Divergent: No War
by ReeseWagner
Summary: Tris and Tobias no war with a twist. Not your average no war.
1. Story

**Divergent No War Fan Fiction**

**Hey guys hate to put more than just a story in but I just wanted to let you know that this is my first published fan fic ever! I tried to steer the focus from just Tris and Tobias so it's a new story for you. I hope you enjoy it! (I am not the creator of the storyline or characters that brilliance is all Veronica Roth.) –side note, Al is dead in this fan fiction and all earlier events have occurred (besides the ones working up to the war duh) so Will and many other people who died in the war (not telling who, don't want to spoil it for those who don't know) are still alive. Also, my apologies if I screw stuff up, I'm currently reading Allegiant and haven't looked at Divergent for a week or so. **

**PCA {pansycake approved.}**

**Tris POV**

When I wake up in the initiate room Will and Christina are whispering something to each other. I jump off my bunk and get dressed. We get our jobs and apartments today.

I'm glad I got dressed when I did because not a second after I buttoned up my shirt Eric bursts into the dorm. "Up up up!" he yells with fake enthusiasm. "On your feet and dressed now, it's not my fault if you were awake last night talking to your boyfriend."

Everyone's eyes fall on Will and Christina. "Anyways," Eric continues. "All of you to the center of the pit with all your belongings in five minutes for jobs and apartments.

If you had been paying attention you would know that is a five minute _walk _from here, so I suggest you hurry." He storms out of the room and while everyone breaks into chaos I walk calmly down to the pit alone.

Unfortunately for Eric I had been paying attention, and know very well the pit is actually a _three _minute leisurely _crawl_ from the dorm. I don't have very many belongings so I simply carry a standard black backpack that is barely full.

I am the first one there and plop down in a seat. There are Dauntless _everywhere_ and though I know this is not everyone, there is still standing space only. Five people stand in front of the chairs on a make-do stage.

Those people consist of Tobias, Max, Eric, Lauren, and another man who I assume to be a dauntless leader. The rest of them must be too busy or in the crowd. Lucky for me the Dauntless aren't very 'aware' of their surroundings so only a few set of eyes follow me to my seat, one of them belonging to Tobias.

He winks at me and I nod at him. Despite kissing in front of hundreds of Dauntless yesterday we're still on the 'down low' if that makes any sense. Behind the leaders and trainers is a board displaying the new initiate's names and the order in which we are ranked.

I read down the list to be sure Molly and Drew really didn't make it. "1. Tris 2. Uriah 3. Lynn 4. Marlene 6. Will 7. Christina 8. Kora 9. Alex 10. Lena" I sigh in relief. Another weight lifts from my chest.

I try to find Zeke and Shauna in the crowd. We may not be close friends but I assume we will be. I see them on the bottom floor stumbling around and laughing. They're drunk out of their minds. I roll my eyes.

"Boo!" A voice says behind me. "Hey Uri." I say coolly. "Damn it Tris! You ruin my fun." I laugh and he plops down beside me. Marlene sits next to him, and Lynn next to her. Three other Initiates I presume to be Kora, Alex, and Lena sit beside Lynn.

"Oh!" Uriah says. "I don't believe you've met these three." He motions to the other Dauntless born initiates. "This is Kora," A short girl with very dark skin waves at me. She has brown eyes so dark they are nearly black, but a round face and black hair that falls in loose curls below her shoulders.

"Alex," A tall tannish boy with bright blue eyes and messy blonde hair that sticks out in odd places nods at me. He has a black tattoo that covers a small amount of the left side of his face that's really nothing more than curved lines with sharp edges.

"And Lena." A girl a little taller than me with wavy caramel hair that just touches her shoulders looks at me nervously. Her skin tone is similar to Alex's but her eyes are what really stand out about her. They are as dark as Kora's on the outside but gradually become a light brown towards her pupils making them stand out well.

She isn't gorgeous but she's certainly not average. Something about her makes me feel strange but then I understand why. Her sister was the one who fell off the roof during initiation.

**(Yes I changed ****her a little but I couldn't resist!)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Tris POV**

I look at Alex. He was the one comforting her. She notices my stare and her eyes flit away. Alex rests his hand on her shoulder. A pang of guilt fills my chest and I look away as well. "Attention!" yells Eric. Apparently they have no use for microphones here.

Everyone turns to him silencing. "Today the initiates pick their jobs! They will get to choose in accordance to their ranking! Ten job positions remain open! These are the open jobs, the number being the number of open positions: 1 Dauntless Leader, 1 Ambassador, 2 City Patrol, 3 Tattoo artist, 1 Shop keeper, 2 Fence Guard, and 3 Initiate Trainer!"

Everyone pumps their fists and yell. Eric walks up to me. "Which will it be Tris?" he says. To my surprise he doesn't say it with his usual sarcasm and hatred. I hadn't really thought much of my job but I knew I didn't want a crappy one.

"Initiate trainer and Tattoo artist." I say. He yells it to the crowd and Max writes it on the board next to my name. Tobias gives me a funny look and I just smile. He proceeds down the line.

Uriah chooses Dauntless Leader, Lynn chooses Fence Guard, Marlene chooses Ambassador, Peter chooses Fence Guard (since he no longer had the option of leader), Will and Christina both choose City Patrol (probably to be together), Kora chooses Shop Keeper, and Alex and Lena choose Tattoo Artist and Initiate Trainers.

Eric then throws us our apartment keys and wraps up the ceremony. I assume Lauren stepped down as Initiate Trainer considering there was more than two spots open. After everyone is done yelling and pumping their fists we all filter into the cafeteria.

All the initiates (minus Peter), Tobias, Lauren, Zeke, and Shauna sit together. No one really eats anything except Dauntless cake considering there's loads of it freshly baked for the event.

I notice Lena isn't as shy as I took her to be when she and Uriah break out into a spontaneous wrestling match and she surprisingly pins him in almost no time. "Hey," I whisper to Tobias. "What's up with Lena? No offense but she really doesn't seem like a rank ten initiate."

He looks at me. "She's not. Her fear time bumped her way down. She only had eight fears but her fear of sister's death really killed her score." I nod. If Caleb were to die right in front of me that way I would be the same.

"Hey!" yells Zeke clearly drunk. "Who's up for truth or dare at my place?" We all nod and mumble sure. There are a few smart comments on his lack of soberness but no one objects. I'm not really familiar with truth or dare but I know it's a game and it's probably exactly as it sounds.

**Tobias POV**

After dinner (or should I say dessert), we all filter into Zeke's apartment. Luckily it's relatively large so it fits everyone. "Okay guys!" Zeke yells once everyone's found a seat.

"You know the rules! Truth or Dare blah, blah, blah… You refuse you lose an article of clothing. Game doesn't end until someone's naked or dead," a few people grumble clearly none of them wanting to be nude in front of all of us.

"and I forgot the rest so yup. I'll start." He looks around the room theatrically tapping his chin. His eyes hit Lena. "Lena, Truth! Or Dare?" He sounds like some kind of psychopath. She laughs. "Dare." Zeke grins tapping his fingers together maniacally.

"Dare you to play seven minutes of heaven with Alex, _or _kiss Four on the lips." She blushes and looks at Alex. There's no way she's going to kiss me, even if she did I wouldn't blame her but it's quite obvious she would never do it.

He shrugs and they walk towards Zeke's bedroom.

**Lena POV**

"Uh, Alex?" I say once he shuts and locks the door. "You don't have too…I mean I could take off my shirt or something." I've had feelings for Alex for quite some time but never really shared that information with anyone.

He smiles. "Well I can't let you be the one to end up naked, and there's no way I'm letting you kiss Four." I laugh nervously. "So how does this work actually?" "Well, the way Zeke plays it is you get three minutes maximum to talk and then the rest of the time, well…you gotta…you know…" He says.

"Kiss?" I say. He nods. We sit on Zeke's bed and ask each other stupid questions until he asks one that takes me off guard. "If you had to date any of the initiates who would it be?" My cheeks light up and I cough. "Umm…you…" I look at the floor.

"Oh." He says. "I was worried you'd say Uri." I look up at him and he smiles. "So what about it then?" He asks. "Dating Uri?" I say. He laughs. "No silly, dating me." I blush again then nod. "Yes." He smiles. "I've been waiting to ask you that since the choosing ceremony."

Now he's the one blushing. Luckily Uriah interrupts our awkward conversation. "Okay pansycakes! First three minutes are up! Get on with it!" Alex scratches his neck nervously then leans in. I lean in too and our lips meet.

Our kissing is soft at first but then we get into a rhythm. I press in harder and put my hand on his neck. He grabs my waist and pulls me in closer. I run my hand through his messy hair and he touches my chin with his other hand.

I place my other hand on his chest and feel his racing heart beat beneath my fingers. He must be nervous, but then again, so am I. I hear a timer go off in the other room and Four shouts. "Okay you two, time's up." We pull away and walk towards the door.

Before I reach for the doorknob Alex laces his fingers with mine and I open the door. His hair is messy and my shirt is a little lopsided from where his hand was. We get a couple cat calls and raised eyebrows but no one says anything and we take our seats.

"Truth or dare Uri?" I ask my hand still in Alex's. "Dare!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Lena POV**

I dared Uriah to run down the hallway screaming rape just 'cause I'm too distracted to really focus on a good dare. Once everyone is more focused on the ridiculous game Kora taps my shoulder. She and I have known each other forever, no wonder she's curious.

"So?" she asks her eyebrows raised. Luckily Alex is paying attention to the game. "I'll explain it better later but long story short we uh, made out…and uh, I think we're dating now." She smiles wide. "I'm so happy for you." She says squeezing my shoulder.

She's the only person I told about my feelings for Alex so she's known from the start. I start paying attention and look around the circle.

Shauna's in only her underwear, Four and Tris are both without shirts, Zeke is covered in paintballs, Will and Christina remain fully clothed but handcuffed together, Lauren is hyped up on peace serum and not wearing pants, a pantless Uriah has Marlene on his lap who doesn't have a shirt on, Lynn is passed out in the corner, and Kora, Alex, and I remain the same.

"Is it just me or is it strange that Zeke, Alex, Lena, Kora, Will and Christina still have all their clothes on?" says Marlene. "Hey," Kora says. "Lynn still has her clothes on too." "Lynn is as good as dead for the night." Tris says. We all laugh.

"No, I agree with Marlene." Shauna says after the laughter settles. "We should do something about that. Lena truth or dare?" I sigh annoyed. "Truth." Shauna sits there thinking for a while. "What were your fears? I heard you only had eight." I pull off my shirt without even thinking.

I twist my arms behind me though, so no one can see my scars. My fears are too personal to share. I remember them perfectly:

The first was death where a man held a gun to my head demanding I do impossible things, the second was loss of my secrets where a man began to read out my darkest secrets to all of the people I knew, the third was my abusive parents where they both stood there cutting my arms with knives while I screamed (Hence the scarred arms), the fourth was…well let's just say I made Uri run down the hallway screaming it a while ago, the fifth was being left alone where I was stuck in a box and could see everyone else but they couldn't see or hear me, the sixth was my only pointless fear sharks, my seventh was being eaten alive which is too disgusting to think about, and the eighth was the worst, watching my sister die again.

I come back from my thoughts and notice a couple eyes on my chest, Tris would kill Four even if he wanted to look but there's nothing stopping Uriah and Zeke. Alex pulls me close to him protectively. I decide I want revenge. "Zeke truth or dare?" "Dare." He replies.

"Go propose to Peter." He slips his paint splattered shirt over his head grumbling. "Kora truth or dare?" I zone out for basically the entire rest of the game.

By the end of the game I have made out with Alex twice, agreed to sit on his lap for the remainder of the game, taken off my pants to a question about my parents, and put one of my bras on Alex.

The only person left not in their underwear is a very embarrassed Will who stands in the corner covering his privates. We all left about five minutes after, all of us tired and embarrassed. Alex carried me to my apartment because I kept falling over I was so exhausted. He slept over but neither of us even made it to the couch.


	4. Chapter 4

**Tris POV**

When I wake up for once Tobias is the one still sleeping and not me. I look around unable to remember where we are. I'm relieved to find we're not passed out at Zeke's. Somehow we made it back to my apartment.

I get up careful not to wake Tobias. I grab some clothes and jump into the shower. I don't bother waiting for hot water. I let the icy water wake me with every drop. I shut it off and go to grab the clothes I had set on the counter but they're gone.

I look around for a towel but they are nowhere to be seen. I hear the faint sound of Tobias laughing from the other side of the door. Lucky for me I have a secret stash of clothes just in case of this instance, and a towel.

I take my time applying my makeup and getting dressed letting the confusion sink in. I walk out of the bathroom fully dressed. He looks at me in utter disbelief. I laugh. "Underestimate someone did we _Four_?" He closes his mouth and looks away. "Shut up." He mutters going to get ready himself.

I stop him as he passes me and press my lips to his. I pull away and look into his eyes. "I think I love you, Tris." He says. I raise an eyebrow. "But I can't seem to decide whether or not I want to tell you yet."

I laugh. "Well you keep thinking on that." He stands there rubbing his chin pretending to think. He stops and looks at me again. "Done thinking?" I ask. He nods. "I've decided to tell you. I love you, Tris."

I kiss him and then whisper, "I love you too, Tobias."

**Eleven months later…**

**Tobias POV**

I wake up to the alarm beside my bed. Tris isn't here because she didn't want to be tired when it was time to welcome the initiates. I groan as I lean over and shut it off. It's 8:00. They should be about ready to start the Choosing Ceremony now.

I walk into the bathroom, shower quickly, then slip on a black T-shirt, dark grey jeans, and my old combat boots. I walk down the hall and rap on Tris' door until she opens it. She's dressed in black leggings, a dark grey low cut t-shirt exposing her tattoos, black combat boots, and a touch of dark eye makeup.

"Intimidating?" She asks. "And sexy." I reply giving her a quick peck on the lips. "Shall we retrieve _X _and _Eight,_ _Six?_" I ask."Of course _Four_." Lena's going by eight (under our encouragement) and Alex is simply going by X.

I don't know when nicknames became a tradition but apparently they are now. Tris and I run to Lena's room banging and yelling at her to get going.

She emerges from her room in tight dark jeans, combat boots, and a low cut black long sleeved shirt that exposes a tattoo on her collar bone that reads VIII, the roman numeral for eight. I also notice a patch of dauntless flames circling her wrist.

Her other wrist is crowded with clunky black bracelets. The thing that really makes her look like an intimidating instructor is her eyes. I don't know anything about make up but whatever she did, her eyes appear piercing but beautiful at the same time.

Alex stumbles out of the door behind her in pretty much the same clothes as me. "Hey _Eight_, _X_." Tris says. Lena smiles. "_Six, _Four." To her Four really is my name but she's smart enough to know my real name isn't a number.

We make our way down to a room off the side of the net with a screen which shows the Choosing Ceremony live. We have about an hour and fifteen minutes until the initiates get here. We each drop our partner's hand as we walk in.

We decided to keep our relationships between us so the initiates don't see that as a weakness and try to exploit it. To avoid any repercussions that could reveal that, Tris and Lena will be working with the transfers, and Alex and I the Dauntless-born. All we can do now is watch the screen and wait.


	5. Chapter 5

**Lena POV**

We all stand below the pit next to the net listening to Max's speech. I remember waiting down here every year since I knew I would remain Dauntless with Alex, regardless of the aptitude tests.

I also remember standing up there myself, looking at my sister's broken body on the pavement. I shudder. My younger brother, Roran, is an initiate this year. I don't even want to begin to think about losing him too, so I don't.

Alex must sense my thoughts because he squeezes my shoulder reassuringly. We listen as the initiates understand what they need to do. I hear a boy screaming then see a flash of black and a body land in the net.

It's Roran. I smile at him proud. "First jumper!" I yell. "Roran!" The Dauntless pump their fists and yell. I help him to his feet and squeeze his shoulder. "My name is Eight and that is X." I say motioning to Alex. It's required that I say that, I can't show favoritism."We will be your instructors this year."

I smile and lean down to whisper, "I'm proud of you." He smiles back his white teeth flashing in the dim light and walks forward to stand by Alex. Roran was part of the reason I was prevented to train the Dauntless born. People have picked favorites before, it will happen again unless avoided properly.

I see a flash of white and black as a Candor girl lands in the net. I help her out. "Name?" I say. I repeat this process until Max jumps down bouncing onto the net then flipping out of it. I roll my eyes. _Show off._ I look at all the initiates and swallow hard.

There are thirteen Dauntless born, and seventeen transfers. _A lot of them will be cut. _I look at the transfers. There are only six girls this year, the rest are all boys. The Dauntless born however have three boys and ten girls.

Tris walks in front of the crowd and waves her hand. "Hello initiates." She says. "I am Six, this is Four, Eight, and X. We will be your instructors for initiation." A few Candor are about to say something when I say. "The first smart ass Candor to say _anything_ about numbers gets a little one on one with me."

I glare at the mass of black and white. I said it in the most intimidating tone I could manage. Looks like it worked. Four goes on with the usual stage one, two, three, getting cut, and fear speech.

This year due to such a large number of initiates we are taking fifteen instead of ten, but since there will be so many initiates five of them will have to take the mandatory crappy fence guard/city patrol positions instead of two.

I was lucky people picked them before I had to choose my job, but I doubt the fifteenth rank will get anything other than fence guard. I watch all the shocked faces and decide it's time to step in.

"Don't look so scared." I say. "Fear is weakness here, if you are afraid of being cut then you're free to go. If not, Dauntless born get your smart asses over with X and Four," I say looking at all the Dauntless born getting a kick out of the transfers' fear. "and transfers with Six and I."

I give them the usual tour, explain the chasm, and tell them to be at the dining hall by nine. I sigh as I sit down next to Tris outside the dorm. It's barely even the first day and I've already had twenty seven complaints about anything and everything.

"Were we this annoying?" I ask her. She laughs. "According to Four, yes. Lauren said we were one of the better years, but if you didn't already notice the arrogant ones were cut so, I'm not so sure about it." I look at my watch. 8:34.

We have a while until we need to go to dinner. "Want to go set up the training room for tomorrow?" She asks me. "Sure," I reply. "What do you want to start with? Knives, guns, or punching bags?"

She sighs thinking about it. "I say guns. Knives the next day, fighting techniques, then fighting the next three. We should leave the fighting techniques fresh in their minds so they have a little bit of an idea how to fight."

I nod in agreement. "I'll go get the guns from weaponry, you go get the targets and bullets." We both head off in separate directions and meet back a few minutes later in the training room. It takes a while for me to get clearance from weaponry so Tris is already setting up targets when I get there.

After testing the guns I put them in a hidden safe until tomorrow. Don't want any funny business. I look at my watch again. 8:49. "We should get going." I say. She nods and we walk down to the cafeteria.

Tris and I aren't exactly 'best' friends like her and Christina or me in Kora, but we've certainly become closer than we were before. We run into some lost initiates in the hall and take them with us. They're both girls from Amity and look extremely nervous.

One of them is slightly taller than the other, but other than that they look almost identical to each other: Long straight brunette hair, clear blue eyes, and tiny noses. Compared to me and Tris, they look like five year olds.

I don't bother learning their names, you might as well write factionless on their foreheads. I sigh as we wave goodbye and take our normal seats among our friends. "What is it?" Alex asks concerned. "It's hard talking to people who you know will be dead or homeless in a week." I put my head in my hands.

Alex just sets his hand on my shoulder. I know he would try to comfort me, but we aren't supposed to be an item, so we can't. "Don't feel bad," He says. "There's nothing you can do about it." I nod and go get some food.

When I get back Tris and Four are gone. Probably making out somewhere. The rest of us are just eating in silence. Some of them like me have a brother or sister in initiation and they're so worried about them getting cut that they can't even eat.

Kora has a younger sister named Abigail, Lynn and Shauna (who are related) have a younger brother named Hector, and Marlene has a younger sister named Eve. That select five of us sit there in silence. Luckily we're all Dauntless born, so I won't be the one to cut their siblings, but Alex is.

He's not eating either. After a while no one else can stand the silence and Uriah speaks up.

"Look I know we're all nervous but we're setting a bad example. Especially with Four and Six gone, and it wasn't wise of them to leave. X, Eight, could you at least try to look happy? I know you're not allowed to be…whatever it is you two are, but we're all sitting around like a bunch of pansycakes."

We all laugh. I noticed how he was careful to use our nicknames. I glance around and notice a few initiates watching, he's right. "I would watch it Uri, don't forget I've seen your smiley face undies." We laugh again.

"God, don't remind me." Alex adds. Now a few of us are doubled over laughing. We continue our usual banter laughing occasionally. The initiates follow the example. Uriah's smarter than he looks.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alex POV**

Lena and I walk back to her apartment together. Before I can go she pulls me in after her. I smile. "Miss me?" She laughs. "You have no idea." I pull her in and touch her lips to mine. I glide my tongue against her bottom lip and work my way down to her neck.

I lower my hands to her waist and she places her hands on my chest. She sighs. "X…As much as I hate to do this…" "We have to train in the morning." I finish for her. She nods. I kiss her forehead. "Goodnight Eight." "Goodnight X."She says.

I make my way towards the door but stop before I exit. She looks up. "What is it?" I hesitate before I say it but it's been running through my mind for quite some time and if I don't tell her now I'll never work up the nerve to again. "I love you, Lena."

She walks towards me and wraps her arms around my torso. "I love you too, Alex." I kiss her again then exit.

**Tris POV**

I wake up to my alarm for the fifth time this morning. This is the latest I could possibly sleep in. I have to get up or Eric will have my head. I was up until midnight last night with Tobias, Zeke, and Shauna walking around the pit.

We had a few drinks but I was careful not to drink enough to give me a hangover in the morning. I was glad I did because at about 3:09 last night Tobias was sleeping in here with me when he woke up and threw up on the floor.

He cleaned it up and left so he could get ready without having to walk to his apartment in the morning. I groan as I stand on my feet. Training starts at six, it's five thirty now. Since we already set up yesterday we don't have to do it now.

I walk to my bathroom, shower, get dressed, and put on my makeup as fast as I can. I don't bother keeping my hair down, it'll just get in the way, so I put it in a messy bun instead. I walk down the hall and bang on Lena's door.

"Eight c'mon, let's go! We have to wake up the initiates at five fourty five!" She walks out of her door looking rested and awake. She's wearing a similar outfit to yesterday and a goofy smile on her face. "What's up with you?" I ask.

She just smiles bigger. "We're friends right?" She asks. It takes me kind of off guard. I think about it, we weren't really friends as initiates but we hang out a lot so I guess we are. "Yea!" I respond. "Of course." She lowers her voice. "And friends that are girls…they talk about guys right?"

Now I'm the one with the goofy smile. "Yea, why? What happened?" She looks around to make sure no one's listening. "X told me he loved me." I smile and give her a hug. "I'm so happy for you! Now are you ready to go make some initiates wet their bed?" She laughs and nods.

I look at my watch 5:43. "We better run, we're a little behind schedule." She nods again and we sprint to the dorms. We grab some frying pans we set by the door the other night and run through the door screaming and banging the pans.

"Up, up, up! Everyone out of bed and to the training room at six O'clock _sharp_! Any late initiates get to hang off the rail of the chasm!" That wakes a few people up. Of course we never actually intend to do so but with that thought swimming around in their heads no one will be late.

Once the initiates are awake Lena and I run to the training room and start setting up guns. When we're finished about half the initiates have arrived. I look at my watch 5:55. "Five minutes!" Lena yells. "Anyone in here after that takes a swim!"

A few more initiates arrive and by 5:59 they're all here. I look around the crowd. I never really paid much attention before, but even though they're all dressed like Dauntless I can still tell what faction they're from.

3 guys from Erudite, 1 girl. 4 boys from Candor, 2 girls. 2 girls from Amity, 1 boy. 1 girl from Abnegation, 2 boys. "Okay guys, have any of you ever held a gun?" Lena asks. Everyone shakes their head no. "Any of you ever seen a gun?"

About seven people raise their hand. "Well let's just say you don't want a bullet in your head, you can't really fight back if you're dead." We get a few worried looks and nods. Lena turns towards the target to demonstrate the correct stance, and fires at the target. It hits straight in the center of the target.

"Okay," I say. "I hope you all were paying attention 'cause now it's your turn. Everybody grab a gun! Don't point them anywhere but the target, you shoot someone your name automatically gets ranked last!" Everyone scrambles to the guns and stands in front of a target.

They all just stand there waiting for someone to shoot. "Well?" Lena yells. "_What _are you waiting for? Shoot!" They all squeeze the triggers, some flinching, some screaming, one girl just dropped it on the ground. The only person who actually hit the target was a girl from Candor who just barely hit the outside ring.

"What the hell is this?" I yell. "Alright this is _not_ how Dauntless act! At this rate only two of you will make the cut and I guarantee that those two will be ranked _last_. The only job you will get is Fence Guard and we run out of those quite fast around here!"

I lied about that but it's a suck ass job and if our initiates rank last Tobias and Alex will never let us hear the end of it. "Everyone pick up a gun _now_. I will demonstrate once more, and if all of you miss again you're running to Erudite and back!"

I demonstrate the correct stance and hit the target dead center. "Now do it and do it right!" They all pick up their guns and imitate my stance. All of them but the two girls from Amity that we met last night have hit the target. I sigh.

I know they'll be the first to get cut. Lena and I walk over to them. They haven't even touched their guns. "Hey! You two." Lena says. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you _want_ to be factionless or would you mind actually trying?"

They both look up. "Sorry but we don't listen to bitchy instructors who are trying to act like they're better than us." They didn't strike me as the insulting type. I slap them both in the face. Their cheeks are bright red from the hand mark.

"That would be because we _are_ better than you. Both of you, follow me. _Now_." Lena stays to watch the rest of the initiates. I walk with them up to the glass building, into the room with the ropes that Dauntless fall off of and break their limbs all the time.

We climb up a ladder and stand on a platform next to it. "Both of you on the rope." One of them starts to protest. "_Now._" They nervously climb onto the rope and wait. "Grab onto it and hang from your hands." I instruct.

"What if we fall? We could break something." The one on the left says. "I said, get your banjo strumming asses hanging or I'll hang them for you!" I retaliate. They hang from their hands and I climb down the ladder. I take a seat on the floor and watch them squirm.

"When can we climb down?" The other one asks. "When I tell you to." I say glaring at them. "That's not fair though! There has to be rules against this!" She says. I look at her with a cold stare. "Last year an initiate got out of line and she had to hang from the chasm. Be glad I didn't make you do that."

That shuts them up. I walk around the glass floor until I hear one of the girls scream. She's hanging by just a few fingers. "Help!" She screams. "She's going to fall!" The other one squeals. "Help her!" I look at her. If I help her I show weakness, if I don't I'm no better than Eric.

"No." I say. "You brought this upon yourselves." Just as I finish talking she falls landing on her leg. She screams in pain. "Marcy!" The other one yelps. She swings to the ladder and climbs down to help her sister. At least I think they're related.

"Take her to the infirmary then report back to training. As for you _Marcy_, you are still required to show up tomorrow. Perhaps while you sit in the hospital you can rethink how you intend to treat your successors for the remainder of initiation, if you survive long enough."

I don't bother waiting for a response and storm back to the training room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Lena POV**

When Tris returns she's got 'pissed off' written all over her face. "Someone's feeling grumpy." I hear a Candor girl named Lindsey say behind me. I smack her head. "Ow!" she says. "Jeez, I was just kidding." I turn to face her. "Candor don't 'kid'." "I'm not Candor." She replies.

Not rude, but in a friendly assertive manor. I look at her target and see she has hit the center ring multiple times. Dismissing her previous outburst I give her a look of approval. "Nice shooting, maybe you aren't Candor." She smiles and returns to loading her gun.

I think I'll like her. I return my attention to Tris. "What happened? Where're the girls?" She sighs heavily and explains the ropes and Marcy falling. "Do you think her leg is broken?" I ask. She thinks about it for a second. "No, she seemed to be able to stand. Probably just a fracture."

Is it just me or was that a very 'Erudite oriented' response? That's odd coming from a Stiff… I push the doubt from my mind and look at the doorway where one of the girls from earlier is walking in. A hush falls over the room as her sister follows her in, strutting her new crutches.

I walk over and ask whether or not it's broken. "What's it to you?" The girl who I think is named Alanabeth replies. I look at her hardening my gaze to a menacing stare. "Just a bitchy instructor who needs to know whether or not her 'much better than her' student can fight or not in two days."

They both glance nervously at Tris and my clenched fists. "Not broken, just badly bruised. It'll be better in time." Says Marcy in a speedy manner. She glares at her sister knowing that she could be in more trouble because of her. "Sorry." Mumbles Alanabeth and they return to firing their weapons.

I walk back over to Tris. "Any ideas on rankings?" I say. She glances around the room. "No, but I think we have a pretty good idea of who won't be first." I look to where she's looking. The two girls are now trying to hold up their guns in the sloppiest manner I've seen all day. I sigh. _I knew they'd be cut._

**Tobias POV**

After training the initiates Alex and I head to lunch. We feel better about mentoring our friends siblings since they all seem to be doing well, especially Marlene's sister Eve. Hector seems to be doing the worst out of them, but he's still doing much better than the other initiates, which luckily I don't really know.

"So," I say. "How's Lena doing?" I didn't really know Lena and her sister before initiation, but I know she had the potential to rank first. Her sister's death ruined that for her. "She's good. She doesn't have nightmares about her sister anymore." He replies.

That's odd, I didn't know she had nightmares. "She had nightmares" Alex scratches his neck nervously. I guess he sort of forgot that not everyone knows Lena like he does. "Yea," He says. "She had really bad nightmares…would wake up screaming."

I didn't think Lena would take her sister's death so badly. She always seemed so tough, I never really understood why. "I didn't really take her to be the scared type." I say. "She was always so fearless and strong before." I didn't know her when she was really young, but I met her before the choosing ceremony.

He nods looking around. What's he so worried about? "Look," he says. "I wasn't supposed to really mention that. Let's just say Lena had a rough childhood. I don't expect you to understand, so don't take this personally, but you have no idea what her life was like back then."

He doesn't give me a chance to respond and walks away. I don't know what he was hinting at but for someone with a particularly rough childhood myself, I do understand. In fact, I more than understand. I have a theory. I think it's time to have a chat with Lena.


	8. Chapter 8

**Lena POV**

I'm surprised when Four asks me if he can talk to me on the way to lunch. I agree and follow him to the chasm. Why would he need to gosomewhere loud enough for no one to hear our conversation? Once we're hidden from the view of the railing he leans up against the cavern wall.

"Okay," I say. "What's up? Why do you need to talk?" He looks down to the sleeves of my shirt. Instinctively I put them behind my back. "I need to ask you about your parents." He says. I shudder as the memories of knives and blood flood through my memories.

"Tobias, that's really a closed subject for me. I'll talk to you later." I turn to leave when he says. "Did you just call me Tobias?" "Shit." I say. He grabs my arm and slides up the sleeve revealing the thousands of knife scars covering my skin. I kick his shin and he releases my arm.

I shove down the sleeve and sprint towards the net. I almost reach the net and escape. Almost. Tobias tackles me from behind literally five feet from it. I kick and punch him trying to escape. He manages to hold down my arms but it gives me enough time to clear my mind and kick him off.

I grab at the ropes in the net and begin to climb out of the hole. I reach the surface and run for the train tracks. "Elizabeth!" Tobias yells after me. "Stop!" Elizabeth is my real name. I go by Lena now because I refuse to let anyone call me by the name my dreadful name my parents gave me.

I stop mid sprint and face him. "How dare you call me by that name!" I scream at him. My blood is coursing with adrenaline and rage. It burns my skin like an open flame. "That is not who I am! Don't you _ever_ call me that!"

Tobias stops ten feet away from me. "You can't deny who you are Elizabeth." He says. I look at him disgusted. "You're one to speak _Four_." I spit at him. "Elizabeth this isn't about me. Why didn't you tell me?" He says.

"The same reason you didn't recognize me Tobias." I reply. Him and I both cut off our ties with our families as soon as we could, denying anyone or anything that had to do with them.

*FLASHBACK*

When Tobias was still Marcus' son, and I was still Dauntless Leader Sasha's daughter, we met at an event involving our parents. We were only about five and my sister, brother and I were the only kids there wearing long sleeved shirts considering we were deep in Amity compound.

Tobias asked us why and we told him we couldn't say. He seemed to know a thing or two about secrets and closed mouths so he brought us somewhere secret and we exchanged stories. Ever since then any time our parents met and brought us along, we grieved together.

After Tobias left Abnegation we were alone in life again.

*END FLASHBACK*

He swallows hard. He understands that he left me and my siblings. He could have at least warned us that he planned on leaving. "How does no one else know you're Sasha's daughter?" he asks.

I look at him with cold eyes. "Tobias these questions are pointless. You know all these answers, you went through the same thing. No one even recognized me at the choosing ceremony. I cut my hair and stopped wearing those ridiculous contacts. I snuck out Roran soon after."

My parents hated my eyes, so they made me wear color contacts. They also never show up on visiting day so it's not a hard thing to hide. "Elizabeth you're not being fair." He says. I close the gap so I'm only inches from his face.

"_I'm _not being fair?" I growl. "You left us, our only friend to face our parents alone. I couldn't tell anyone else, not even Kora, you knew that. You didn't even warn us and now-"A sob escapes my lips and I collapse on the floor in a fit of tears.

Sobs rack my body as I lose all control. Everything that I have been holding in for the past year spills out. Tobias just stands there in shock. He didn't expect me to do that. I just sit there crying until I finally compose myself and leave Tobias to stand there alone just like when he left me. _Let him feel guilty. He deserves it._

**Alex POV**

Four and Lena both missed lunch today, which makes me very suspicious considering my conversation with him earlier. I rush to Lena's room after and knock. "It's open." Lena says from inside. Her voice is rugged and hoarse.

Has she been screaming? When I walk inside the apartment is a mess. Her furniture is tipped over and spilled. Every object in the room is out of place or thrown across the room. I see a light coming from the bathroom. "Eight?" I say.

I look into the bathroom and find Lena standing in front of her now broken mirror. Her right hand is cut and bleeding from slamming her fist into it. She's wearing a strapless shirt that only reaches down to her belly button, her scarred arms are completely exposed.

"Lena!" I gasp and wrap her in my arms. Her face is red and swollen from crying. She doesn't even move when I touch her. "Lena? What's going on? What happened with Four?" She looks at me. Before I can say anything else her knees give out and she drifts unconscious.

I catch her in my arms. I feel a single tear drip onto my arm from her cheek. I lift her into my arms and walk her down to the infirmary. I run into Christina and Kora (who have become good shopping buddies) on the way there.

They both drop at least a dozen shopping bags at the sight of Lena. "What happened?" Christina says rushing towards me. Kora just stands there with her mouth open. "I knew there were scars but…" she mumbles.

Christina turns to Kora shocked. "You _knew_ about this?" Kora snaps out of her trance and looks at Christina. "Yes, but I'll tell you later. How are you going to check her into the infirmary? They're going to know who she is when we check her in." I sigh. I didn't think of that.

"We're just going to have to tell them to be quiet about it, or else." Kora nods and we rush to the infirmary. "Name?" The receptionist asks us. "Eight." I say. She groans clearly annoyed "Real name?" I roll my eyes. "Is that relevant?" She narrows her eyes. "Yes."

I sigh. "You won't inform anyone about the patients name or…family will you?" She looks at me confused. "No. Of course not. Only if the injury is being brought to government attention such as assault." I nod. "Okay. Patient name: Elizabeth Ford."

The receptionist raises her eyebrows but doesn't say a thing, unlike Christina. "Ford? _Elizabeth Ford?_ As in daughter of _Sasha Ford? _Dauntless Leader_? _How-" "Shut _up_ Christina!" Kora interrupts. "Do you have no self-control? You can't tell _anyone_ about this! You don't understand why she did what she did."

She motions towards Lena's arms. Christina's jaw drops and she covers it with her hand. I don't know how she understood from just that, but I don't question it. I fill out some paperwork and they take Lena into a room leaving us outside.


	9. Chapter 9

**Tris POV**

I find Tobias sitting by the chasm looking into the deadly rapids. "Hey, where were you at lunch? You had me worried." I ask him. He doesn't look at me but still responds. "I had to talk to Eight about her parents." I look at him confused and a little jealous.

"Why?" I ask. He sighs. "Let's just say there are worse parents out there than Marcus." What does he mean? Why would he say that? What did Lena's- My jaw drops when I understand.

Her parents were abusive too. I don't know how anyone could be worse than Marcus though. I'm about to ask Tobias when Uriah yells for us. "Guys! Christina said Eight's in the hospital! C'mon!" I turn to Tobias and see his face has drained of it's color.

"Oh no." is all he says. I have a feeling he knows what's going on. We sprint after Uriah towards the infirmary. When we get there the usual gang is taking up the entire waiting room.

Marlene and Christina are talking in the corner of the room, Zeke, Shauna, and Kora are all pacing around like madmen, Lynn and Will are sitting next to each other in chairs but not talking, and Alex sits with his head in his hands in the corner.

When we get closer I see he has blood on the front of his shirt. "Uriah what happened?" Before he has a chance to answer, a woman with straight black hair and striking features walks into the room. I'm pretty sure she's a Dauntless leader.

Everyone goes silent as she walks through the waiting room. She doesn't say a word to anyone and walks through the doors to the patient rooms. Alex is on his feet now and he has a worried look on his face. He rushes through the doors after her.

"What was that all about?" I ask turning to Christina. She's as pale as a death. "What?"

**Lena POV**

When I wake up I'm in the hospital. I look around the empty room. An empty desk, a chair, a mirror, and a hospital bed is all that occupies the room. I can't help but analyze my surroundings for weapons or an escape route, force of habit.

I sit up and examine my hand. It's bandaged lightly, which means I didn't cut it bad. I hear footsteps outside and look up. Then the last person I would want to see walks through the door. My mother.

I jump to my feet. "Hello Elizabeth." She says in her cold deceptive voice. I narrow my eyes. I do not trust this woman. "Don't you dare call me that. That is not my name, and don't look at me like you own me. I am _not_ your daughter."

She scoffs at me. "Oh really? Because that's what it says on your birth certificate. Why haven't you spoken to me? I am very ashamed of you. Ranked tenth in initiation? You should be begging me to still consider you _mine._ Luckily for you I can be forgiving."

I look at her with sixteen years of abuse and mistreatment in my eyes.

"Ashamed of me? I'm ashamed to be called your daughter. The only reason I ranked last was because of the only person who I ever loved dove headfirst off a roof. I bet she's glad she's in heaven because she knows the likes of you will spend eternity rotting in hell."

I punch her jaw as hard as I can, fighting back tears. I refuse to cry in front of this _thing._ She looks at me holding her jaw, shocked. Her eyes fill with fury and she swings at me but I'm faster and grab her fist pulling.

She lands on the floor behind me. "Don't touch me. Don't you ever try to touch me. If you _ever_ touch me again I'll drag the knife across your arm once just to switch things up." She gets to her feet still clutching her jaw.

"You were told to never speak of that to anyone. You are still my child and you will obey me." She reaches for my arm but I kick her back down. "Don't touch me!" I scream. This woman was the main character in my worst nightmares for years, I can't help but be afraid.

"I am not a child anymore! I _obey_ myself!" Just then Alex bursts through the room and grabs my arms. I scream and kick as he drags me away, leaving my mother in the room.


	10. Chapter 10

**Uriah POV**

I'm not really sure why Dauntless leader Sasha Ford just came through the infirmary, or why Alex followed her, but I can hear Lena screaming, and it's not a pleasant sound. "What is going on?" I ask Christina.

She and Four are the only ones who seem to understand what's going on. "Um," She says looking around nervously. "That's kind of Eight's mom." We all look at her shocked. "What?" Lynn asks. "That's impossible. Sasha's kids disappeared."

"Actually," Four speaks up. "One of them died, another ran away, and the other…changed." We all look at him with our mouths wide open. No one objects though because it all makes sense. No one except Kora and Alex seemed to know about her childhood, but no one asked.

Now that I think about she does look like Sasha's daughter Elizabeth, and the fact that Roran seems to be living on his own would explain that he's Sasha's son. "Why would she hide that?" Marlene asks.

"That would be why." Says Tobias nodding towards the door. Everyone turns and Lena stands in the doorway wearing a strapless shirt. That would be normal if her arms weren't covered in scars and scabs.

"Oh my god." Will says. Everyone just stands there staring at Lena. She shakes her head and says. "I'm going home." She walks out the door and Alex follows her, leaving us all standing here shocked.

**Lena POV**

Alex follows me out of the infirmary. I can't believe my deepest secret is out, everyone knows what I am. "Lena wait." Alex says behind me. I know he's serious because otherwise he would have called me Eight.

I don't stop, but I do respond. "Everyone knows. Everyone knows how ugly I am, how ugly my life is." He grabs my arm and I stop. He pulls me to face him. I stare at the floor. "Don't believe that. You are beautiful. They are your friends, they'll understand. They're not going to tell anyone."

I know he's right but I can't look at him. "You deserve better than me." Is what I say instead. He lifts my chin forcing me to look in his eyes. "That is the biggest lie you have ever told. You are beautiful and I love you."

He silences me with a kiss. I rub my arms embarrassed. "I need to get a coat or something to cover me up." I say between kisses. He puts his forehead to mine. "You don't need anything. Let them see your beauty."

**Tris POV**

I slam the door behind us when we get back to Tobias' apartment. After Alex and Lena left it became chaos. Sasha came back and started yelling at us. Uriah and Tobias yelled back and everything went downhill from there.

After the fight broke up everyone cleared out. "What the hell? Why didn't you tell me about _Eight_?" I ask. He just looks at the floor. "They weren't my secrets to give. She had to choose for us to know, like I chose to tell you about me."

He has a point. "I didn't really know completely until I talked to her though. I just had a feeling…" I sigh. This has been an awful day. We already missed dinner and it's getting late, we still have to train the initiates tomorrow.

"Okay. Well, I should go. It's knife throwing tomorrow and I might be flying solo. Goodnight." He doesn't stop me on the way out, so I don't look back. I go back to my apartment and sleep in my clothes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Tris POV**

When I wake up to my alarm I shower, get dressed, and put on my makeup. I don't really pay too much attention to what I'm doing. I feel empty from last night. I grab my keys and head down to the training room.

I wake up the initiates on the way there. When I get there I'm shocked to see Lena setting up the targets and knives. She's wearing a sleeveless tank top. I don't ask or say anything, it will only make things worse. "Hey six." She says.

"Eight." I reply. We work in silence until we're done. When the initiates get here they all just stare at Lena's arms. "Well?" She snaps. "Do you have something to say?" They all just look away.

"That's what I thought." I shake my hands out and break the tension. "Okay guys, today is knife throwing. Grab a knife and I'll demonstrate." I have Lena stand in front of the target and let the initiates watch in awe as I throw knifes around her head.

She doesn't even blink. I have a feeling she's used to knives. After the initiates get throwing Lena and I work down the line helping them. I stop to watch a Candor girl who's name I think is Lindsey hit the target multiple times. "Good job." I say continuing down the line.

**Lena POV**

It doesn't take the initiates as long to get the hang of knife throwing as I thought it would. I stop at the end of the line where a boy from Erudite who I think is named Aaron seems to be struggling. "Aaron right?" I ask.

He looks up and blushes, nodding his head. "Here, watch me." I throw the knife and hit the target in the center. He practices a couple times hitting only outer rings. "Here," I say putting another knife in his hand.

I take his hand in mine and show him the motion. I let go and he tries again, hitting the target almost exactly in the center. "Perfect." I say. He looks at me smiling. "Thanks." "No problem." I squeeze his shoulder and return to Tris.

"They're doing good." She says. I nod. "Any ideas on rankings?" I look around the room thinking. "I like that Lindsey girl, and Aaron seems to be getting the hang of it." She watches Aaron throw a few knives then nods in agreement.

"Okay guys, that's enough for today! Go get ready for lunch at noon!" I yell out to the initiates.

**Aaron POV**

As we walk back to the dorms Lindsey runs up next to me. "Hey Linds." I say. "What's up?" She looks at me with a grin. "I heard Eight and Six talking, they were talking about ranks. They said something about you and me."

I smile. "Really? Eight mentioned me?" I've kind of got a little crush on her. "Yea," She replies. "She kind of scares me. Did you see her arms? I mean Six is pretty menacing too but, damn. Eight is certainly something."

I nod a little embarrassed. "Nah, I don't think that. She seems kind of nice." Lindsey laughs. "Good one. Look, I'll see you later I'm going to walk with Erin and Alyssa. See ya!" She runs off with her Candor friends.

I look around to see if I can find any of mine. I spot Samuel, Jacob, and Samantha and make my way over to them. "Hey Sam, Jake, Sammi." They smile at me. "Hey Aaron." We talk for a while at the dorm until it's time to go to lunch.

I see Eight walking alone in the hall. "Hey guys, I'll be right back. I'm going to ask Eight if she wants to sit with us." They all just look at me like I'm crazy. "Seriously?" Says Jacob. "She scares me!" I give him a look.

He puts his hands up defensively. "Whatever man, do what you want." I walk over to Eight. "Hey Eight, thanks for helping me with knife throwing earlier." She looks at me kind of confused. _Good pick up line stupid. That's kind of her job._

"No problem Aaron, glad I could help." We walk in silence for a while. I scratch my neck nervously. "Do you uh, want to sit with me?" She looks at me kind of shocked. "Er, us. Sit with us." _Nice save Romeo._

She nods. "Um, sure." I walk her over to our table. "Eight this is Sam, Jake, and Sammi." She nods. "Yea. Hey guys. How's it going? Any questions about earlier?" Of course she's going to act like our instructor.

We're not friends. We all shake our heads. "Okay." We sit there awkwardly in silence. I look over at the door and see the Dauntless born trainer X walk in. Him and Four scare all of us to death. They're so ripped it's inhuman.

I almost pee my pants when he starts walking towards our table. "Hey guys. Mind if I sit?" We all nod our heads a little too fast. "Sure! That's cool." Sammi says. He takes a seat next to Eight. Is it just me or did he sit pretty close to her? I have to admit, it makes me a little jealous.

"How's initiation going?" he asks. "Fine." I reply a little mad. _Why did he have to come here and ruin it?_ He looks a little confused at my anger. Before he can say anything a boy sitting across the room sitting with a bunch of Dauntless yells "Eight, X! C'mon!"

Eight turns around. "Yea Uri be there in a sec!" She turns back to us and her and X stand. "Well it was nice meeting you guys. See you tomorrow at 6:00 sharp." I noticed her tone was more of a warning than friendly reminder.

They start towards the Dauntless table together. Once they're far enough away Jake speaks up. "Five bucks says he's got a thing for her." "You're on." Sam says. My face flushes with anger rather than embarrassment. They all look at me.

Sammi smiles at me evilly. "Jealous much?" I look down. "Shut up."


	12. Chapter 12

**Alex POV**

I don't know why Lena was sitting with the initiates, but I do know that the boy she was sitting next to has a thing for her. I know I shouldn't be jealous but just because she won't try anything doesn't mean he won't.

When we sit down Lena gives me a funny look. I pretend not to notice. "What was that all about?" She whispers into my ear. I look at her. "Nothing." She raises an eyebrow. "Really, it's nothing."

She ignores my strange behavior and we listen to the conversation. "Hey Lena, I know I let you beat me before, but I was just a little tired. Rematch?" He's referring to a wrestling match he and Lena had a few days before the choosing ceremony.

He failed miserably. She gives him an intimidating yet mischievous look. "Sure, as long as you're ready to get your ass kicked." He smiles back. "Hey everybody!" Uriah yells to the cafeteria.

"Eight agreed to let me kick her ass! Meet in the center of the pit in five minutes to watch!" Lena rolls her eyes. "Was that really necessary?" He just smiles. "Most definently."

**Tobias POV**

We follow Uriah and Lena down to the pit. I'm walking next to Tris and Alex. Apparently, some time last night everyone agreed to not mention another thing about what happened with Lena, so Tris has forgiven me about the whole thing.

About half the cafeteria, and all of the initiates are walking with us. When we get to the pit Lena and Uriah are circling each other. "Ready to lose, Eight?" Uriah taunts. Lena grins. "As long as it's opposite day."

I laugh and so do Tris and Alex. "Just fight already!" Zeke yells. Uriah's about to say something else but Lena takes the opening and tackles him to the ground. Uriah kicks her off and swings at her head.

Lena ducks and Uriah loses his balance. She shoves him away and kicks his gut. He doubles over and she sweeps his feet out from underneath him. She sits on top of him declaring his defeat. "Hey Uri?" She says. "Yea Eight?" He replies his voice strained.

"Maybe next time you can win to switch things up." He laughs and she pulls him to his feet. They shove each other playfully and everyone cheers and laughs. Uriah walks over to Zeke and takes a shirt from his hand grumbling.

He pulls it over his head. It reads 'I lost to a girl' and everyone laughs. I look over to Lena and see she's talking to a boy about an inch taller than her. He's got short brown hair and green eyes.

I'm about to ask about him when he does the worst thing anyone could ever do. He kisses her. She shoves him off and starts yelling at him. I see the change in Alex's mood. He tenses and walks over to them.

"This can't be good." Tris says. I look over to Zeke and Uriah and they're watching too. "Nope. Not at all." I reply. I follow Alex to Lena.


	13. Chapter 13

**Lena POV**

Once the fight is over I watch Uriah put on a shirt that Zeke no doubt made. I sigh. Those two are always making bets. I'm about to go talk to them when Aaron stops me. "That was awesome!" He says. "You pinned him in _seconds_! And you still look beautiful afterwards."

I blush. I'm about to say something along the lines of 'I have a boyfriend' or 'I can't date initiates' when he kisses me. I open my eyes wide. I did _not_ expect him to do that.

I push him off me hard. "What the hell? Look Aaron I'm flattered that you like me but-" As if on cue Alex punches Aaron's jaw. "X! Stop! He's just an initiate!" I scream.

I almost used his real name. I grab his arm and pull him away. "What so you think it's cool to kiss my girlfriend?" He snaps ignoring my protests. "Girlfriend? Some couple you two are! When's the last time you held her hand?" Aaron growls. "Besides, she clearly has feelings for me."

That's when Alex lunges for his throat. I kick Aaron out of the way just in time. Tobias and Uriah get here in time to contain Alex and take him away. I grab Aaron by his shirt collar and drag him off to the tattoo parlor.

Tori holds the door open for me and locks it behind us. She saw the whole thing. "Back room's open." I nod at her and drag Aaron into the back of the store. I shut and lock that door too. I shove all my sketches and papers off my desk and sit him on it.

"Do you have a death wish? Do you have _any _idea what X would have done to you had I not intervened? He would have snapped your neck!" I yell. "Well, you weren't exactly giving off any signs that made me think you had a boyfriend." He retaliates.

I slap his cheek. "You idiot! You think I have a _crush _on you? I love X. You better get it through your thick skull now or else the rest of initiation will not turn out good for you!" I turn away and lean on the wall.

I can't bear to look at him right now. "So you _don't _have feelings for me?" I sigh. "No." Just then Eric bursts through the door. "What the hell was that?" He says glaring at me. "Aaron please go wait in the other room with Tori while I talk to Eric." I say.

Aaron looks at me confused. "Why should I have to leave because of _him?_" I look him sternly in the eye. "That is not how you refer to Dauntless leaders. Now, get out." He looks at Eric and realizes what he did. He rushes out of the room shutting the door behind him.

"Elizabeth I helped you get away from Sasha, and now I find that you are causing fights in the middle of the pit? I told you that if you wanted this to work you would have to lay low and stay out of trouble. I'm ok with you showing your arms as long as you can come up with a good enough lie to cover it up, but something like this will stand out. People are going to start asking who you are."

Eric helped me a while ago before he was leader come up with a plan to escape my parents without having to leave Dauntless. He also helped me break out Roran. I know he seems harsh but he isn't really that bad when you get to know him.

"I know Eric, I'm sorry. I didn't expect that to happen. Alex lost control and I had to stop him before he did something he'd regret." Eric just shakes his head and sighs. "I'll cover this up for now but don't let it happen again."

I nod. "Thanks Eric." He nods his head and leaves. Once I hear the door close I pound my fist against the wall and scream. I run my hands through my hair and walk into the shop.

Aaron stares at me shocked and Tori just sits there sketching like nothing happened. I clear my throat. "Tori, would you please see that Aaron here is escorted back to his room. I have to go talk to Zeke." Tori agrees and I leave the store.

The crowd has scattered and left the pit. I walk to Zeke's apartment. When I get there I knock on the door and wait. A couple seconds later he opens it. "Hey Eight." "Hey Zeke, is X here? He opens the door so I can walk in.

"How did you know?" He asks. "Just a hunch." I reply. I look across the room and see a very drunk Tobias, a very bruised Uriah, and a very agitated Alex. They all look up when I walk in. "Hey Elizabeth! You look nice." Says Tobias in slurred words.

He has a stupid grin on his face. He won't remember any of this in the morning. "Four you're so drunk that Tris couldn't even slap you back to reality." I say. His smile fades. "Well then." He returns to his drink.

"Hey Uri, thanks for…that." He nods his head. I grab Alex by his wrist and walk to the door. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, don't let Four drink anymore he's got training in the morning." I walk into the hall and shut the door behind me.

I lead Alex back to his apartment, push him in, then move on. I walk down to Tris' place and knock. She opens the door. "Hey Eight. Do you want to come in?" I shake my head.

"No, it's getting late. I came by to let you know Four is at Zeke's and he's drunk out of his mind, you might want to go pick him up." She nods. "Also, I wanted to apologize for whatever the hell just happened." She leans against the door frame and sighs.

"No, don't apologize. You didn't know Aaron or X would do that. I set up the training room while you were talking to Aaron though so it'll be ready for fighting techniques in the morning. Also, I guess there's no point in hiding your relationship with X so don't bother trying to cover it up."

I nod and say goodbye. I head back to Alex's place. When I open the door he's sitting on his couch with his head in his hands. "I'm sorry Lena, I just lost it. I saw him kiss you and, I just lost it."

I sit down next to him. "Alex, it's okay. I forgive you. I know you meant well, just don't do it again young man." I see a twitch of a smile on his lips. "Yes ma'am." I smile and he wraps his arms around me.

I bring my lips to his. His tongue dances across my bottom lip. He grabs my waist pulling me in closer, and I run my hands through his blonde hair. He pulls away slightly and rests his forehead on mine. "I love you."

I look into his calm blue eyes. "I love you too." He kisses my forehead, the tip of my nose, then my lips. I fall asleep wrapped in his arms.


	14. Chapter 14

**Tris POV**

I still have no clue what happened yesterday but everyone seems to have dismissed it, so I do too. Tobias was too hungover to go train the initiates so Alex flew solo until he felt better.

I'm pretty surprised that he let himself get so drunk but I'm not going to scold him because I'm not sure what happened after they dragged Alex away. Today five different initiates mentioned Alex and Lena as a couple.

Five initiates were also sent to the infirmary. I don't really remember much of what we did; watching people try to punch bags full of sand is pretty boring. Right now I'm sitting with Lena pairing up initiates for fights.

It takes us a while to put the names to a face, strength, agility, and skill, so we've been here for a couple hours. It was also hard to decide whether or not they preferred their nicknames or real names, so we put both.

I look down and review the list scribbled in Lena's neat writing.

_Day 1_

_**(E )**__Aaron vs. (__**E) **__Samuel (Sam), (__**E) **__Jacob (Jake) vs. (__**C) **__Erin, (__**C) **__Sean vs. (__**A) **__Paul, (__**A) **__Jackson (Jack) vs. (__**AM) **__Harrison (Harry), (__**A) **__Jane vs. (__**E) **__Samantha (Sammi), (__**C) **__Corey vs. (__**C) **__Matthew (Matt), (__**C) **__Lindsey (Linds) vs. (__**C) **__Alyssa (Ally), (__**AM) **__Marcelene (Marcy) vs. (__**AM) **__Alanabeth (Alana)_

_Day 2_

_**(E) **__Samuel (Sam) vs. (__**A) **__Paul, (__**C) **__Erin vs. (__**C) **__Sean, (__**E) **__Jacob (Jake) vs. (__**E) **__Aaron, (__**A) **__Jackson (Jack) vs. (__**C) **__Lindsey (Linds), (__**AM) **__Harrison (Harry) vs. (__**AM) **__Marcelene (Marcy), (__**C) **__Corey vs. (__**A) **__Jane, (__**E) **__Samantha (Sammi) vs. (__**AM) **__Alanabeth (Alana), (__**C) **__Matthew (Matt) vs. (__**C) **__Alyssa (Ally)_

_Day 3_

_**(C) **__Lindsey (Linds) vs. (__**E) **__Aaron, (__**E) **__Samuel (Sam) vs. (__**E) **__Jacob (Jake), (__**C) **__Erin vs. (__**A) **__Paul, (__**C) **__Sean vs. (__**A) **__Jackson (Jack), (__**AM) **__Harrison (Harry) vs. (__**C) **__Corey, (__**AM) **__Marcelene (Marcy) vs. (__**A) **__Jane, (__**E) **__Samantha (Sammi) vs. (__**C) **__Matthew (Matt), (__**C) **__Alyssa (Ally) vs. (__**AM) **__Alanabeth (Alana)_

_**C=Candor E=Erudite A=Abnegation AM=Amity**_

It was hard to pair up Marcelene and Alanabeth because no one except for themselves was small enough to fight them.

I feel a little bad making people from the same faction fight because they'll most likely know each other, but then again Uriah and Lena beat each other up every day so maybe they'll just get used to it.

Lena marked the factions next to the names so we could determine whether or not there was a pattern between common faction enemies and opposing factions. Last year I remember a few of us pretending to be unconscious because we didn't want to hurt each other.

Lena and I are up until 12:00 determining tomorrow's fights. Eventually we both just fall asleep on her couch.

**Lena POV**

The following days are all just a blur of fighting and tallying. Right now I sit in Alex's apartment with Tobias, Tris, and Alex. We are celebrating the end of stage one, and discussing rankings.

Tomorrow is free of training for visiting day. We decided to get ranks out of the way now so that we don't have to do it the night of. I reread at the data from the past five days.

**_Shooting: 3=exceeding 2=average 1=below Throwing: X=exceeding Y=average Z=below_**

_3/X __**Aaron**__-Erudite, 3/Y __**Samuel**__-Erudite, 2/X __**Jacob**__-Erudite, 2/Y __**Samantha**__-Erudite, 3/Z __**Erin**__-Candor,2/Y __**Sean**__-Candor,2/Z __**Corey**__-Candor, 2/Z __**Matthew**__-Candor,3/X __**Lindsey**__-Candor, 2/Z __**Alyssa**__-Candor, 1/Z __**Marcelene**__-Amity, 1/Z __**Alanabeth**__-Amity, 1/Z __**Harrison**__-Amity, 3/Z __**Jane**__-Abnegation, 2/Y __**Paul**__-Abnegation, 3/X __**Jackson**__-Abnegation_

**_Fighting-Winners_**

_**Day 1:**__ Samuel, Jacob, Paul, Jackson, Samantha, Matthew, Lindsey, Alanabeth_

_**Day 2:**__ Samuel, Erin, Aaron, Lindsey, Harrison, Corey, Samantha, Matthew_

_**Day 3:**__ Lindsey, Samuel, Paul, Jackson, Corey, Jane, Matthew, Alyssa_

**_Fighting-Tally_**

_**Aaron**__ 1/3 __**Samuel**__ 3/3 __**Jacob**__ 1/3 __**Samantha**__ 2/3 __**Erin**__ 1/3 __**Sean**__ 0/3 __**Corey**__ 2/3 __**Matthew**__ 3/3 __**Lindsey**__ 3/3 __**Alyssa**__ 1/3 __**Marcelene**__ 0/3 __**Alanabeth**__ 1/3 __**Harrison**__ 1/3 __**Jane**__ 1/3 __**Paul**__ 2/3 __**Jackson**__ 2/3 - -_

_Rankings:_

_Lindsey_

_Samuel_

_Jackson_

_Aaron_

_Jacob_

_Samantha_

_Paul_

_Matthew_

_Jane_

_Erin_

_Corey_

_Alyssa_

_(Cut off line)_

_Sean_

_Harrison_

_Alanabeth_

_Marcelene_

We decided to cut four people from each side of the initiation from stage one this year. Just like I knew before, Alana and Marcy are going to be cut. After their strange behavior I shouldn't feel bad, but I can't help but want to.

We won't have any transfers from Amity this year. I sort of regret doing ranks now, because tomorrow on visiting day I will have to talk to these kids' parents and smile and tell them they're doing well while really I'm getting ready to kick four of them out to live with the factionless.

I think Tris is thinking the same thing because she looks like she's about to throw up. I already know who is getting cut from the dauntless born too, but I don't even know remember names. I never met a majority of them anyway.

I do know that no one I know is being cut, so I don't think too hard on it. This year we're going to have to cut four initiates after stage two so there won't be so many being cut after stage three. We still haven't figured out how we're going to grade them.

After an hour more of small talk and a couple drinks too many, Tobias and Tris leave. I remain alone with Alex. "Tomorrow is going to suck." I say breaking the silence.

Alex nods. "Let's not talk about that. Roran, Eve, Abigail, and Hector are okay. We have nothing to worry about. We're all going to go down to the pit tomorrow and just have a good time. That's what you should think about."

By 'we' he means Uriah, Christina, Marlene, Lynn, Will, Kora, Zeke, Shauna, Lauren, Tobias, Tris, and us. We were going to bring Roran with us too, but him and a couple of his initiate friends made plans instead, which is fine.

"There's only one thing I want to think about." I say leaning into him. "Who? Is it Uriah? He's such a pansycake." I laugh for the first time in days. "Sure, let's go with that." I press my lips to his. He kisses me gently at first, then increasingly harder.

I push him away for a second so I can slip his shirt over his head. Once my lips meet his again I touch my fingertips to his chest. I have his body memorized. His shoulders have dauntless flames on them, but other than that the front side of his body is unmarked (void the tattoo on his face).

The only thing on his back is the dauntless symbol. He does however have a large X on his left bicep. He pushes me away and slips my shirt over my head. His hand traces the ink on my back where jagged black wings creep up my shoulder blades.

His hands explore my body until they find the skin just above my wrist. He pulls away to look at my new tattoo better. It's a small, simple, black blade. Any other person who didn't know me would look over it. But Alex isn't any other person.

"You got a new tattoo." He says grimly. I look away. He leans in and touches his lips to my ear. "I love you Elizabeth Ford, and you are the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on." I grab his face and pull his lips to mine, kissing him with more passion than I ever have before.

After a couple minutes I pull away out of breath. There're tears in my eyes. "I love you more than any girl has ever loved anyone before."


	15. Chapter 15

**Tobias POV**

When Tris and I finally find our way back to my apartment we're pretty shaken up. "Should we go to bed?" She asks. I pretend to think about it then scoop her up in my arms.

She squeals and laughs. "I don't think so." I say. She strains against my grip. "Hey! No fair! Put me down." I smile at her. "Only if you give me a kiss." She smiles back at me. "Okay, put me down so I can."

The second her feet hit the floor she runs across the room. "But you gotta catch me first!" I groan and follow her across the room. I try to grab her but she slips away and jumps onto my bed. I lunge for her and she jumps from my reach.

Just as she's about to sneak by me again I grab her arm and pull her against me, sealing her exit with my other arm. "Gotcha." I say and press my lips to hers. After a few minutes of kissing she pulls away and kisses my cheek. "We should get to sleep." She says.

I nod and we walk into my bedroom. We lay down on the bed tangled in each other's arms. "I love you Tobias Eaton." She says to me. I look into her clear eyes. "And I love you Beatrice Prior." I fall sleep with her in my arms.

**Aaron POV**

I wake up in the dorm _not _to the sound of Six pounding a frying pan for the first time since I got here. It's been a while since the incident with Eight and she seems to have forgiven me. I'm still not completely convinced that she doesn't have feelings for me.

I jump out of bed and look around. There're only a few people still here, everyone else is probably wandering around the pit. I grab a dark grey shirt out of my bag and slip on my black cargo pants. I grab some cologne I bought the first day I was here and spray it on.

I want to impress Eight. At the last second I decide to slip on my sweatshirt. I look over to Jake's bed and see he's gone, so is Sam. Sammi is asleep in hers but I don't really feel like waking her up. I walk out into the hall alone and look at my clunky wrist watch that I had since I was still Erudite. 7:47.

I still have time to go to the cafeteria and get breakfast. When I get there Eight is sitting next to X, his arm draped over her shoulders. They're laughing about something. It makes me so mad to see him with her.

I'm not going to confront him again, but with the right amount of charm I can win Eight over. I grab a muffin and sit at a table with Lindsey and some of her Candor friends. I don't even bother listening to what they're saying, I'm too focused on Eight and X.

They're sitting with a bunch of other Dauntless, including the one she beat up the other day. Sitting on the other side of her is a girl with dark skin and black curly hair. I'm looking at the other people she's sitting with when I find another pair of eyes looking back at me.

It's a girl with ebony skin not quite as dark as the other girl's and short black hair. She narrows her eyes at me and I look away. That was a warning. I eat my muffin and look at the girl again.

She isn't watching me anymore. I look back to Eight and X. Now they're holding hands and he's whispering something in her ear. She smiles and turns to him. I watch her lips move but am too far away to hear what she said.

I think it was 'I love you'. _Lies._ I think to myself. Now her lips are on his. I look away. I can't stand to watch this anymore. _Chill out._ I start to think like a normal person and not a jealousy blinded kid. _She's in love with __him not you. Move on, you can find someone else. _

I turn to Lindsey and start paying attention to their conversation. I never noticed how pretty she was before. She has messy brown curly hair that falls in just the right way, and green eyes that shift brown in the center. She notices my stare.

"What?" I scratch my neck nervously. "It's just that…you're very pretty." She blushes and looks down. "Thanks, uh you too! I mean no, you're not pretty well, you are you're gorgeous but no you're umm…handsome." She says nervously.

She turns and puts her hand to her face. "Nice going stupid." I laugh. "It's fine Linds. I think you're brilliant." She blushes again and smiles. I take her hand in mine. Her cheeks turn an even brighter shade of crimson. "Linds, do you uh, want to go out some time?"

She gasps. "Really? I thought you'd never ask! Absolutely!" She sits there for a moment thinking about something then shakes her head and kisses me quick on the cheek. My cheeks are red now too, I'm sure of it. I look back at Eight and X. They're still kissing.

I look over to the girl with the short hair. She has a smile on her face and nods at me approvingly. I smile back and turn my attention back to Lindsey.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sam POV**

When Jake and I went back to the dorms after breakfast Aaron was gone and so was Sammi. We still had a couple of hours to kill until it was time for visiting day. I highly doubt my parents are going to show up, but I think my older sister Melissa might.

Jake only ever had a grandmother, and she died a year ago. Since then he's been living with me and my family, so he's practically my brother. He never got attached to my family so it wasn't hard for him to leave.

I left because I was too stupid to be Erudite, and I knew even if I stayed I wouldn't pass initiation. I had an aptitude for Dauntless and so did Jake, so we just figured, why not?

"Hey man what do you want to do? I don't know where Aaron or Sammi are and I highly doubt they care where we are." I ask. He looks around the pit. "Well, there're a couple Dauntless-born initiates over there, we could hang with them."

I look to where he's pointing and sure enough a few of the Dauntless-born initiates are standing in a group. There's two girls and two boys in the group. One of the girls has dark brown skin, shoulder length black straight hair and extremely dark eyes.

The other one has wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. The tallest of the two boys has messy caramel hair and dull blue eyes, I believe he's Eight's little brother. Other one has black military-style hair and cold grey eyes. "They seem normal enough, why not?" I reply.

We walk up to the group. "Hey umm, your older sister is Eight right?" I say to the taller boy. He smiles and nods. "Yea, Sam and Jake right?" We both nod. "Cool, my sister mentioned you guys were pretty good. I'm Roran, this is Abigail, Eve, and Hector."

The other Dauntless-born initiates wave at us and smile. "Hey guys," Jake says. "what's up?" "We were talking about this huge building called the Hancock building. We're going to go zip lining off it in a sec, you guys wanna come?" Abigail says. We both nod. "Sure!"

Hector speaks up with a mischievous grin. "There are going to be other Dauntless there though, so try not to stand out. Also, I hope you're not afraid of heights."

**Jake POV**

Sam and I follow the initiates and a few other Dauntless to the train and hop on. We sit there for about twenty minutes before people start jumping off. I stand and get in line behind Eve to jump.

We all file out of the train and run towards a huge tower that I believe is the Hancock building. When we get inside we all cram into a tiny elevator and take it to the roof. My ears pop on the way up. The elevator opens onto the roof of the skyscraper.

Luckily it's not too windy so I'm not afraid of falling. "What exactly is 'hang gliding'?" I ask Eve. She grins maniacally. "You'll see." We all wait in line until I finally understand what's going on. There is a huge wire leading off the top of the roof to I don't know where.

Now I know why Hector mentioned heights. People are hooking harnesses up to the wire and sliding down it to the bottom. Four, Eight, Six, and X are standing by the wire administering harnesses, hooking them up, and sending them flying into oblivion.

My legs feel like Jello. I'm not afraid of heights but that doesn't prevent me from fearing for my life. Somehow I will myself to move forward when it's my turn to go. "Hey Jake!" Eight yells over the noise of the wind and the crowd.

She hands me a harness and I slip it on. "You ready?" She asks. "Well, there's no going back now." I reply. She smiles. "Guess so." And with a flick of her wrist, I'm hooked up to the wire. I take a few steps back to get a running start then, literally jump off a building.

If only my grandmother could see me now. I smile as I increase in speed and sail through the air. The view is breath taking, literally. I can barely breathe. As I get closer and closer to the ground I spot a crowd of black in the distance.

When I get closer I see they're forming a net with their hands. I wonder what they did for the first glider. I fumble with the buckles on the harness as I get ready to drop. I slip out of the last one just in time and land heavily in the sea of Dauntless.

They all scream and whoop as I get to my feet. I spot Sam in the distance gliding down the wire with his hands waving through the air. He's hooked up backwards. After he drops from the line we repeat the process until Six comes down last.

We all run back to the tracks and board the next train. I find myself sitting next to Eight and X. "How did you like it?" She says smiling. I look at her and smile to. "That was awesome! I've never experienced anything like that before!"

She and X laugh. "Good I'm glad you liked it." X says. I've never really talked to him before but everyone just about wets their pants at the sight of him or Four. His hair is messy from the wind, and so is Eight's.

I look down at their hands which are closed around each other. I heard that not only X had a thing for her, but they were a couple. Apparently that rumor is true. I guess Sam owes me five bucks. They seem happy together.

"Okay guys, time to get off!" I hear Six yell from the doorway. Her and Four pull open the car doors and people start jumping off. I follow them until we reach the net. I look around and spot Sam waiting to jump. I walk over to him.

"Much better than hanging around with Aaron and Sammi." I say. He nods. His hair is messy from the wind as well. "Way."


	17. Chapter 17

**Tris POV**

After we get back from zip lining, it's about time for families to start showing up for visiting day. Tobias, Lena, Alex and I make our way to Kora's shop where we agreed to meet everyone else. "I didn't know Sam and Jake were friends with Roran." I say to Lena.

She laughs. "Yea, me neither. They seemed to fit in well though." I think back to when it was me gliding down from the Hancock building for the first time. That's when I started to feel like I belonged here, hopefully it has the same effect on them.

When we arrive at Kora's shop parents are just beginning to arrive. I look around and see very few of them. I have a feeling a lot of parents don't intend to see their children this year. As I'm scanning the room I see someone I did _not_ expect to be here. Caleb.

"Hey guys," I say. "I'll be back in a sec, I've got to go talk to someone." I make my way through the crowd to Caleb. "Hey Caleb, What're you doing here?" I ask him. He looks at me shocked.

I forgot he hasn't seen me in anything other than loose Abnegation clothes. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm wearing skin tight black leggings, combat boots, and a t-shirt that just barely covers my belly button.

"Beatrice? Is that you?" He asks wrapping his arms around me. I tense. I'm not used to hugs from anyone other than Tobias. I reluctantly wrap mine around him. "Yes, please call me Six while we are in public, I have students around."

I said students because that's probably the best way to describe what the initiates are. He looks at me confused. "_Students? Six?_" "Well, initiates. I'm training the Dauntless initiates this year. They refer to me as Six and I would like to keep it that way."

He nods hesitantly. "Oh." He steps back and looks at me. His eyes fall on my collar bone and the ink creeping out from under my shirt on my shoulders. "You have tattoos." I nod. "Everyone does here. Would you like to meet some of my friends? They may want to meet you."

He shrugs. "Sure, I'd love to." I motion for Tobias, Lena, and Alex to come over here. They walk over. Caleb's eyes fall to Lena and Alex's hands. Once a stiff always a stiff. "This is Eight and X, and this is Four." I say motioning to my friends. He looks at them studying them as well.

I notice that his eyes fall on the tattoos on Lena's collar bone and wrist, as well as one peeking out from under her shirt on her back. He stares at the blade on her arm and her scars for a little too long. She puts her arms behind her back. "You're Ford's daughter." He says.

Everyone but Lena's jaw drops, including my own. _How did he get that from just looking at her?_ She tenses and sets her jaw. "You're Prior's son." Now everyone is looking at Lena shocked. "Wait, you two know each other?" Alex asks.

Lena and Caleb glare at each other for a while until she finally answers. "No." _Liar._ I cock my head to the side. Tobias clears his throat. "Well then, as long as we're lying about things, Caleb, I'm not your sister's boyfriend." Tobias holds out his hand to Caleb.

I turn to him agitated. _Really? Is now a good time to be cocky? _Caleb takes his hand and shakes it. "Nice to meet you. Would you all mind if I talked to Elizabeth for a moment?" Now I definitely know Lena's lying. Caleb and her have met before. "Umm Okay?" Tobias says.

Lena walks towards the tattoo parlor and Caleb follows. _Why would Elizabeth Ford know Caleb Prior?_


	18. Chapter 18

**Lena POV**

*FLASHBACK*

Fifteen year old Caleb Prior sits on a windowsill in a government building. His father is busy in a meeting. Another fifteen year old girl stands alone in the corner. Several other kids are positioned in different places in the room.

For some reason the faction leaders were asked to bring their eldest child, if they still lived within their home, no one's sure why. The girl in the corner is wearing a black long sleeved shirt and dark denim shorts.

It's very hot in whatever faction they are in. Caleb approaches the girl. "Aren't you warm?" She looks up startled. "I thought stiffs didn't ask questions." Caleb scratches his head nervously.

After he knew he was going to leave his faction for Erudite he's been acting up a little. "They can if it may benefit another person." He replies. That sounded like a good answer. She fixes her brown eyes on him. "You're not fooling anyone, you don't plan to stay Abnegation."

She says in a hushed tone. He's taken aback by this girl who seems to have figured out his deepest secret in seconds. He narrows his eyes. "Well isn't someone acting Candor?"

She scoffs at him. "Just because I figured that out does not mean I'm Candor. I'm leaving my faction for a reason, not because I want to." Why would anyone leave their faction if they didn't want to?

"And that reason would be..?" She sighs and grabs his wrist, pulling him into another room with no security cameras, or other people.

"I'm only telling you because you're smart and I need your opinion. Also the one person who I could trust left me without warning, I have no one else. You can't tell anyone else about this either, so I hope I'm right about you wanting to be Erudite not Candor."

Caleb is taken aback by her sudden honesty. He nods his head, what harm could be done by helping her? The girl explains her story. The only feeling Caleb can feel is shock and disgust.

Why would anyone harm their child? He considers the odds of her leaving or staying Dauntless. "You could stay Dauntless, but change your identity, except it would be extremely dangerous and risky. The best option is to leave and join another faction, where no one can get you."

The girl nods her head. She seems sad that her suspicions were right, she would have to leave. "Thank you for helping me." She turns to leave. "Wait," Caleb says. "What's your name?" She pauses and turns back to him.

"Elizabeth Ford." She holds out her hand. He takes it in his and shakes it. "Caleb Prior."

*END FLASHBACK*

When I walk into the tattoo parlor Tori is nowhere to be seen and neither is Bud, so I just let myself into the back room. Caleb follows me in and shuts the door behind him. I lean over the desk and look down at my sketches.

"You're supposed to be dead." I hear Caleb say. I speak without facing him. "You see there's a difference between supposed to and actually are." He pauses before speaking again.

"Why didn't you leave? You said you were going to leave Dauntless but you stayed and changed your identity. You knew how dangerous it would be yet you still did it, why?" I stare into the sketch of a crying girl in front of me.

"Because it was a risk and I like risks, hence the reason I'm Dauntless." I lie. Caleb is silent behind me. "You're lying." He finally says. I flinch at the words. I knew he wouldn't buy it. Somehow I manage to force my legs to face him. I turn my body but my eyes stay on the floor.

"Because my aptitude test changed my original plan." Caleb freezes in front of me. "You're divergent, aren't you?" That's when I look up.

**Tobias POV**

When Lena and Caleb get back Caleb has a bruise forming on his cheek bone and Lena's face is puffy and red from crying. I don't know what happened between them but whatever it is Tris won't be letting this one go. Lena walks over to Alex and he places his hands on her shoulders.

He whispers something into her ear and they begin to silently argue. We pretend not to notice. The only one who seems to have Lena figured out is Alex, and I don't think even he knew that about her.

Caleb clears his throat. "Well, my apologies for that. I would love to stay longer _Six_ but I must be getting home. It was nice to meet you Four." He holds out his hand and I shake it. For an Erudite he's not very keen on Dauntless oriented customs, but I pretend that it's normal.

He hugs Tris goodbye, nods at Alex and Lena, then leaves. The second he vanishes from sight Tris grabs Lena's wrist and pulls her away. Lena could escape but she would have to explain herself eventually.

I sigh and turn to Alex. "Well, I think our girlfriends might kill each other. Want to grab a beer?" Alex laughs. "Why not?"


	19. Chapter 19

**Tris POV**

Once we're away from the crowd I release Lena. "How the hell do you know my brother?" I yell at her. I don't know why I'm so mad, maybe it's just because she didn't tell me. "I didn't know he was your brother. I didn't realize your last name was Prior." She says.

I look at her face. She's not lying. Now I feel kind of guilty for yelling at her. "I'm sorry Lena, it's just I thought you were keeping things from me."

She nods and replies, "It's fine Tris. Caleb and I met when we were fifteen at some government event where the leaders were required to bring their oldest child. He helped me with figuring out how to escape my mother. That's also how I know Tobias. We met at different government meetings and with his father as Marcus he knew a thing or two about dealing with abuse. Once he left, I had no one else to go to. Caleb said it would be best if I left, and that was my original plan. I didn't leave because if I did then Roran would be left to face Sasha alone, and I couldn't exactly break him out if I were Candor."

I narrow my eyes. "There's something else. You aren't telling me something." She scratches her neck nervously. I notice her eyes darting back and forth. "What is it?" She looks pale, like she's going to throw up.

What could it possibly be? She moves in closer so she can whisper the answer. "My aptitude test was…undetermined." I pull back shocked. _Lena is divergent. _How did she hide it? Did she use her sister's death to make it look like she had a reason for acting crazy?

I don't know but whatever she did she certainly did it better than I did. I look back to her. I need to tell her I'm divergent too, or she'll be too afraid to ever treat me like a normal person again. "I know the feeling." Now it's her turn to be shocked.

She doesn't say anything else but her muscles do seem to relax a little. "Oh." She looks around a little nervous again. "I thought so but I wasn't sure." She _knew_? How did she _know_ I was divergent? This girl is something.

She walks me into the tattoo parlor and then to the back room. She grabs a sketch of all the faction symbols. She looks at me and raises her eyebrows as if saying 'Will you tell me?' I nod. I point to Erudite, Abnegation, then Dauntless.

When I pull my hand back she looks at me confused. She shakes her head then points herself. She first points at Dauntless, then Erudite (shocker), and Candor. When I think she's done she points to one last faction, Abnegation. She got _four_ results? How did she possibly do that?

"Is that not normal?" She asks me. I must look surprised. "No. Tobias told me it was odd I had _three,_ but you have _four?_" She nods. Now I really have no idea how she hid her divergence.

I sigh. "Well isn't today just very revealing? C'mon, all the initiate's parents that are coming should be here." She nods and we walk out to the pit. I see Tobias and Alex in front of Kora's shop with everyone else.

We approach and Tobias takes me in his arms when we get there. "So you didn't kill each other." I laugh. It's nice to laugh and not think about serious things for once. He leans down and plants a kiss on my lips. I pull back. "So, are we done hiding our relationship?"

He shrugs. I smile and pull his lips to mine again. "Cough, get a room! Cough." I hear Uriah say. I pull away and punch his arm. "Ow. Jeez, since when were you such a pansycake?" We all laugh. I look around the crowd.

Lena and Alex aren't arguing anymore and she stands with his hand on her waist. Uriah and Marlene are holding hands. Finally. Zeke and Shauna are leaning against a wall, but very close. Christina and Will are making out a little ways away.

Lynn, Kora, and Lauren stand awkwardly at the edge of all the couples. "Hey, when are you guys going to have the paintball match?" Kora asks. I forgot about that. "I guess the night after stage two starts." Tobias replies.

"Aw man, now I wish I had signed up to train the initiates! I forgot about that!" Uriah complains. "That's ok Uri; we'll plan a tournament or something after stage three, that is unless you're too scared I'll beat your ass." Lena says with a wicked grin.

She can really recover fast. Uriah walks over to Lena and pushes her playfully. She charges him and they break out into a wrestling match. "Man, I swear she fights with Uriah more than I do." Zeke says rolling his eyes.

We all laugh and watch them fight. Eventually Lena has Uriah beat and she returns to Alex's side. He gets up and brushes off his shirt. Marlene takes his hand in hers and kisses his cheek. "Hey Uriah, what was that about getting a room?" Lynn says. Uriah's cheeks flush red and we all laugh.

"Pansycakes." He grumbles. We continue our usual banter until I feel a tap on my shoulder, it's Sam. Behind him stands Jake and a girl dressed in blue who I presume to be his sister. "Hey Sam, Jake." They both smile. "Hey Six. I wanted to introduce my sister to you and Eight."

Lena walks over and stands next to me. "Melissa this is Six and Eight, my instructors. Six, Eight, this is my older sister Melissa." She nods and we nod back. "Nice to meet you." She looks kind of nervous among all these Dauntless.

We exchange a quick conversation and they move on. "That wasn't awkward at all." Lauren says from behind us. We turn to see that they were watching the whole thing.

"Well, no wonder it was! How would you feel if a bunch of strange Dauntless were just watching you like a piece of meat?" Lena says. "So we're like, a pack of wild dogs now?" Shauna says laughing.

Lena stands there silent for a moment. "Yes." She says. We all laugh. I look around the pit. A few parents are around talking to their kids, and the kids without parents who showed up stand off to the side talking.

I'm about to turn back to my friends when I see an Abnegation initiate (Jackson) sitting alone by the chasm. "I'll be right back." I say and walk over to him.

"Hey Jack. Did your parents not come?" I ask. He looks up at me with tired blue eyes. He has shaggy blonde hair like Alex, but his is longer and smoother. He's small, but fast, and strong. I remember he won two of his fights.

He's ranked third. He shakes his head no. I sit down next to him. "Don't feel bad. I'm sure your family will come around. Mine is." He looks up at me. "You were a transfer?" I nod. He rubs his arm which is bruised from fighting. "If you don't mind me asking, from where?"

I smile. He reminds me of myself. "Abnegation." He looks at me shocked. "Really?" I nod. "I was first jumper." He just smiles. He found a friend. "What did you rank?" He definitely wouldn't have survived long in Abnegation initiation.

"First." He doesn't look surprised. "What did Eight rank? Second? She's strong." I look at Eight across the pit. Her and Alex are holding hands. She looks happy.

"Eight's sister died during initiation. It really took her off guard and killed her score. She could've ranked first had it not been for that." He looks down at his feet. "Oh." I look back to Jack.

"She's better now, clearly. Do you know that boy she keeps fighting with and winning?" I ask. He looks over at Uriah. "Yea." I look at him too, in fact it looks like they're about to fight again. "Well, he ranked second. That's saying something, I can't even beat him."

I was right, they're on the floor wrestling over a piece of cake. Jack is still watching them. "I see." Lena punches Uriah in the jaw and pins him, grabbing the cake. We both laugh. I look down at my watch. 8:50.

"Well, I've gotta get going, dinner should start in a few minutes. It was nice talking to you." He smiles and waves goodbye. I make my way back to my friends.


	20. Chapter 20

**Jack POV**

I watch Six run back to Eight and her other friends. It's weird seeing her outside of training, laughing, smiling, having fun. She always seemed so serious. I watch as she walks up to Four and kisses his cheek.

Everyone assumed that after Eight and X were revealed to be dating, that so were Six and Four. Guess they are. I get up and dust off my shorts. It's nice to know that Six used to be Abnegation. I wonder if Eight was a transfer.

I don't think she is though, I doubt she got her scarred arms from a place like Amity. I feel better after talking to Six about my ranking, she seemed to like me. I doubt she would have been so friendly had she intended to kick me out with the factionless.

I make my way over to my Abnegation friends Jane and Paul. I'm dating Jane. I grab her hand as we walk. "Hey guys, how're your families?" It's going to take a while to get used to talk about myself, for now I'll just stick to what's comfortable.

They both nod. "Good, my dad said my mom couldn't come because she was helping factionless, but he said they weren't mad at me." Jane says. Paul smiles. "My parents didn't show, but Grayson" (his brother) "did. He said that they were pretty disappointed that I left but they'll get over it."

We walk in silence and take our seats at our usual table with the other initiates. Lindsey and Aaron wave when we sit down, but don't say anything. "Hey Jack! Why were you talking to Six?" An ex-Amity boy named Harrison asks me.

No one really likes the Amity transfers but we don't want to pick any fights so we just let them hang around. No one thinks they'll last long anyway. "Oh, she was just telling me a few things about fighting techniques." I lie.

I get a few suspicious looks from the ex-Candors but they let it slide. "Oh. Did she say anything about ranks?" He asks. I shake my head no. I think he knows he's not doing well either.

"Do you think they've even figured them out yet?"An ex-Candor boy named Sean asks. Sammi nods her head. "Yes. The pattern in which they speak and don't speak to some of us reflect guilt, which would be due to the knowledge that some of us are being cut from Dauntless faction."

We all just look at Sammi. "What?" she demands. "Your Erudite is showing." An ex-Candor named Matthew says. We all laugh and Sammi glares at him angrily. While they start arguing I look over to the table Eight and Six are sitting at.

Eight is sitting on X's lap, and Six and Four are kissing. I look down, embarrassed. I haven't kissed Jane yet but we've only been dating for two days, so I think it's normal. I pull my attention back to the conversation.

**Lena POV**

"So you guys are doing the paintball match tomorrow night?" Marlene asks. Tris and I nod. "Yup, and we're going to win." Alex says tauntingly. I laugh. "In your dreams." He puts his lips next to my ear. "You're always in my dreams."

I smile and plant a kiss on his lips. While he's distracted I grab his arm, flip off his lap, and stand behind him pushing up on his bent elbow. "Ah!" He yelps. I smile. "You're never going to win if you let me distract you like that."

Everyone laughs. "Congrats Uri! You're not the only one who gets beat up by girls!" Zeke taunts. Uriah jumps on his back and they start wrestling. Alex spins around and sweeps my feet out from underneath me.

The second before my head hits the ground he catches me in his arms. He then lifts me over his shoulders. I scream. "Put me down!" He just laughs. "Nope." He pops the 'p' at the end just to rub it in. I get an idea and whisper something into his ear.

He freezes and his cheeks flush red. I take the opportunity to jump off his shoulder, kiss his cheek and sit back down in my seat. He still stands there with his mouth open. "What did you say?" Will asks. I laugh. "Let's just say whatever it is would get you kicked out of any other faction."

Everyone just watches me shocked. "Wow Eight, I don't know how you did it, but I think you broke X." Tobias says. I stand up and shut Alex's mouth. "You're going to catch flies like that. Now sit down you're scaring the initiates."

My eyes shift to a couple of initiates watching Alex from the other side of the room. He looks down at me awestruck. "How- Where- When-" I put my lips to his silencing him.

"Sit." I whisper to him. He obeys and we sit again. Everyone is still watching Alex. Zeke is about to die of laughter. "Damn X, put a ring on that or I will." Alex and I both blush and look down. I've never really thought about marrying Alex before.

Is that where this is going? What would I say if he asked? Am I ready? I shake the thoughts away and take Alex's hand in mine. He must be thinking the same thing because his palms are clammy and damp with a nervous sweat.

Kora clears her throat and changes the subject. I mentally thank her for it.


	21. Chapter 21

**Tris POV**

After dinner we all head back to Zeke's place. Apparently it's a party for the end of the first stage, but I really think Zeke's just craving another game of truth or dare. After he passes out the beer, I know I was right because he announces for everyone to take a seat.

He starts out the game with a dare for Marlene to walk down to Uriah's place and find a pair of his underwear, then wear it for the rest of the game, she does so. When she comes back she has a pair of Uriah's smiley face underwear on her head.

Everyone laughs. "I'm blind!" Lynn yells laughing. Lately I've noticed she's been less and less hateful and cold. After that she dares Kora to go ask Peter out. I haven't thought about Peter in months, but apparently he's no longer trying to kill people.

She comes back with her face bright red. "What'd he say?" Lena asks. Kora looks like she just got hit by a bus. "He said yes. Apparently we're going to see a movie next Friday. Thanks for that Mar." Marlene just bursts out laughing.

Peter said _yes?_ I didn't even think he knew Kora. Lena can't contain herself anymore and is rolling on the floor with Marlene. "Fine Lena, if you think it's so funny, truth or dare?" Lena composes herself and sits back down next to Alex.

"Truth." Kora smiles evilly. This is not going to turn out well. "If Alex were to propose to you right now, what would you say?" Lena just sits there stunned. This is a tricky situation, because I know how I would feel if I were asked that about Tobias.

If she says yes, I don't know, or no she could jeopardize their relationship. If she took off a piece of clothing it could potentially have the same result. Also, I'm not sure if she'd be willing to admit something like that to all of us.

She looks at Alex. He just raises his eyebrows. Someone should tell him curiosity killed the cat. Finally she answers. "I would say yes." Everyone just stares at her. They expected her to say something like 'I don't know' or 'I'm not ready', not yes. She clears her throat. "Uriah, truth or dare?"

**Lena POV**

I don't know why I said yes. I don't know why Kora would ask that in the first place. I _do_ know that Alex hasn't spoken to me since I said that. Luckily everyone has taken 'pity' on us and avoided asking us truth or dare.

I also know that we won't be dodging questions forever. This is confirmed when Shauna finishes a dare. "Alex, truth or dare?" He doesn't answer at first. "Dare." Shauna sits there pretending to think, but I can tell by the evil glint in the eye she already knows what she's going to do.

"I dare you to climb the Ferris wheel handcuffed to Lena." He just shrugs and takes a pair of handcuffs from Zeke's cupboard of random crap. He slides the metal bracelet gently onto my wrist, careful not to put it on too tight.

He then clicks it onto his own. "Two witnesses." He says to Shauna. Lauren and Marlene stand. We all walk towards the door and slip on our coats. On the way out Uriah yells "Good luck pansycakes!" I smile. Uriah always knows what to say to make things less awkward.

Alex takes my chained hand in his and squeezes. I squeeze back. We all walk to the tracks in silence, but after we board Marlene speaks up.

"Yell down to us if you get in trouble, one of us will run back to the compound. Shauna asked me to record it, so don't do anything you aren't okay with them seeing."

By that she means 'don't start making out when you get up there'. I smile awkwardly. "Okay." We wait for about five more minutes until the wheel comes into sight. We all jump off and run towards the wheel, we don't have all night.

It's starting to get dark so we'd better hurry while we still have a little bit of daylight. When we reach the base of the wheel Marlene pulls out a device which I think is a camera. No one really uses them so I've never seen one before.

She hits a button that makes a soft beep. I see a red light flashing on and off on the corner of it. "Okay guys, get to climbing." She says. Alex and I walk towards a rusty ladder in the center of the wheel. "Will it hold us?" I ask.

He looks up to the top. "It held Tris and Four." He responds. I nod and we begin climbing, Alex in front me behind. It's harder with the handcuffs, but we're still making good time. When the ladder ends there's a small platform off to the side.

Alex grabs my elbow and boosts me onto it. Once I'm stable, I pull him up after me. Once we're both sitting I yell down to Lauren and Marlene. "Good?!" We sit silently waiting for a response. I hear a faint 'yes' from their direction. Alex and I just sit there panting for a minute.

"Well, that was interesting." Alex says when he catches his breath. I look out at the view. In the distance I can see the two prongs of the hub. "Don't sound so confident, we still have to get down." I respond.

He looks at me and I look at him. "You know I love you right?" He asks. I look into his soft blue eyes. "You know, I'm not so sure anymore." I watch as his eyes mirror the pain I'm feeling. "What could possibly make you think I don't love you?" I can hear the hurt in his voice.

I have to look down. I feel the moisture gathering in my eyes and a tear slips down my cheek. Alex tips up my chin so I'm forced to look at him. "I love you more than humanly possible, yet just for you I do it anyway."

Now tears are spilling down my cheeks. "Alex I-" He silences me with his lips. I kiss him back, telling him I love him with my lips. I grab a fist full of his shirt and pull him closer. He grabs my waist doing the same. I pull away and rest my forehead on his neck.

"I love you." I whisper. That's when the platform breaks.


	22. Chapter 22

**Alex POV**

I feel the metal platform we're sitting on give out and then I hear Lena scream. Instinctively I grab onto a pole and reach out for her. My hand misses and she falls. The handcuffs binding our wrists dig into my skin and I can feel blood under the metal.

We both cry out in pain as the cuff jerks and catches Lena. "Lena!" I yell. I wrap my legs around the pole and reach out for her. She grabs my hand and I hoist her up next to me. She grabs the pole and I move my hand to support her waist.

I look at her wrist and see the cut is much deeper than the one on mine. "Okay?" I ask her. She shakes her head and points to her right leg. I look down and see a rip in her pant leg and a very deep cut beneath it. Her blood is just pouring out of it.

I balance myself and pull off my shirt as fast as I can. I wrap one arm around Lena and the pole so I can use my other to rip off a piece of fabric from my shirt. Lena grabs my waist so I can lean down and wrap her leg. She winces when I touch it but doesn't protest.

Once I'm balanced I look down to see one figure sprinting off to the compound, the other is sprinting towards the wheel. When they get to the bottom I see it's Marlene. "Lauren's going for help! I can't climb up or it might get worse! Are you guys ok?" She yells up to us.

"No!" Lena yells down weakly. "Alex, I'm getting light headed." I pull her into me tighter. "No Lena, you have to stay with me. Don't leave me, please don't leave me." I tell her. I can see the tears falling down her cheeks. "Alex, I don't think I can." She says.

I shake my head and she's starting to lose consciousness. "No! Elizabeth don't leave me! Stay here! Stay with me! I love you! You can't leave me alone!" I'm losing it. If she dies I won't be able to carry on. I won't.

"I'm trying Alex, I'm going to try. You have to put pressure on my leg. I might scream, but you can't stop. You have to; you have to stop the bleeding. I'm going to try." She says. Her words are jumbled and soft. I nod tears running down my face.

I push my hand as hard as I can into her leg. She screams at the top of her lungs. I grit my teeth and pretend I can't hear her. Marlene is panicking below us. I look into Lena's beautiful eyes. The usually energy flowing in them is fading. "I'm so sorry Elizabeth, I'm so sorry."

**Tris POV**

When Lauren ran into Zeke's apartment we didn't understand at first. She was breathing so hard that she couldn't speak. Then she mentioned the Ferris wheel, and something broke. That's all we needed.

We're all running full speed to Navy Pier. In front are Zeke, Uriah, and Tobias. The rest of us are behind, but not too behind. I see the wheel come into view. What I see scares me half to death. Two figures are dangling from the wheel, and a metal platform is tangled in the bars not far below.

Another figure stands at the bottom pacing frantically. We're getting close, and then I hear a scream. It's Lena. I've never heard anyone make that noise before in my entire life. It's spine chilling and spreads horror through my veins.

We all pick up the pace. When we get there Marlene has just about lost it. "Oh my god, what do we do? Something's wrong with Lena and she's barely conscious. How do we get to her?" Uriah doesn't even wait, he just starts climbing.

He gets to the top and pulls out the key to the handcuffs. He unlocks the one on Lena's wrist and takes her from Alex. I've never seen him like this. They both start climbing down. When Uriah gets to the bottom Will grabs Lena's front and Uriah grabs her front.

Alex slings his arm over Tobias' shoulder and everyone starts running. I see the light of the train in the distance. "Train!" I yell. Everyone heads towards the tracks. We all jump onto the train. When we get inside Will and Uriah set Lena down. She groans.

"What happened?" Christina asks looking at Lena nervously. Alex shakes his head. "The platform broke and she fell. The handcuff caught her but a broken piece of metal cut her leg. It's deep, it's really deep. Possibly to the bone." He keeps shaking his head and puts his head in his hands.

I haven't seen him like this before either. Uriah thinks of Lena like family, and Alex loves her. I feel like I'm going to throw up, Lena could die.


	23. Chapter 23

**Lena POV**

I can't tell where I am, or whether I'm conscious or not. I hear faint voices and I think I'm swaying back and forth. Am I on a train? I feel a shoot of pain as someone lifts me from the ground. I hear the faint noise of arguing voices then I feel weightless.

The next second I feel a much bigger amount of pain. I groan in this alive/dead time continuum I'm in. I think I feel several pairs of hands grabbing me now. I think I'm being…carried?

After a little bit I'm set down on something solid, and that's all I could tell you about it, I'm so numb. I feel a pinch on my neck and drift completely unconscious.

Page break

When I wake up the bright lights are blinding. I shield my eyes with my arm. I look at my wrist where the handcuffs cut it. It's heavily bandaged. I look down at my leg and see it's bandaged as well, and propped up on a pillow.

When my eyes adjust to the light I glance around the room. It's different from the other room I was in last time I was in the infirmary. There's a machine I'm hooked up to that's monitoring my heart beat, as well as tubes attached to different parts of my body which connect to other machines.

Other than the hospital bed I'm in, nothing else is in the room, except for a sleeping Uriah, Alex, and Kora. Uriah and Alex look funny leaning against each other asleep. Kora is flat out lying on the ground a couple feet away from them.

This room was clearly not built for visitors. I look at my watch. 4:30. If I can get them to release me from the hospital, then I can still train the initiates today. Carefully, I take out all the tubes from my arms. I slowly sit up careful of my leg.

I undo a few of the bandages on my hand so the bandaging isn't so thick. I carefully slide my legs over the side of the bed. I'm still wearing the clothes I was wearing last night, but my right pant leg is cut short so it's out of the way.

I gently get to my feet. I try putting weight on my leg, which was a huge mistake. I squeal as I fall to the floor, my hands slapping against the cold tile. I wasn't loud, but I was loud enough. Uriah wakes up startled. "Lena!" He gasps.

"What are you doing?" He notices Alex leaning against him and quickly pushes him away. I laugh as Alex wakes up and scoots away from Uriah awkwardly. "Hey, why are you laughing? You're the one who fell off a Ferris wheel!" Uriah says.

I roll my eyes and Alex helps me to my feet. "Um, why exactly are you on the floor?" Kora asks brushing off her clothes. "She tried to stand but fell on her ass." Uriah responds. Alex gives him a look and he puts his hands up defensively.

"Hey, just stating the facts." Kora punches him on the arm. He rubs where she punched him but his smile doesn't fade. "Why exactly _were_ you standing?" Alex asks. I take a seat back on the hospital bed.

"I wanted to go see if I could check out." I respond. Alex looks at me confused. "Why?" I sigh. "I don't want to miss training today. Also, we have the paintball match tonight and you sort of need both instructors for that."

Alex sits down next to me. "You really think you can handle that?" I nod. "Yea, I mean, it hurts when I put weight on my leg but I could just get some crutches until I can walk normally." Alex and Uriah look at each other considering it.

"Okay, I'll get you some crutches. Kora can check you out." Uriah says. They walk out of the room shutting the door behind them. "Now you're really going to lose tonight." Alex whispers into my ear.

I laugh and push him away. "I don't need legs to beat you." He smiles. "Oh really?" I nod. "Of course." He raises his eyebrows. "Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I took your lips too?" I smile and he presses his lips to mine. He kisses me softly.

I trace the black curves of the ink on his face with my fingertips. He begins kissing down my chin to my neck. "You know Kora or Uriah could walk in any second…" I trail off. "Mmmmhhmm." Alex mumbles into my neck.

"And they could see us…" I say warning him. "That's nice." He replies between kisses. I laugh. "Seriously Alex." I push him back. He looks at me and pouts his lip. "Oh save it for later." I kiss him on the cheek.

Uriah and Kora walk in not a second later. Uriah's using the crutches like the four year old he is and Kora's walking behind him annoyed. Uriah tosses me the crutches. "Here ya go! All checked out and ready to tell initiates that your old pal Uriah finally beat you up!"

Uriah says smiling like an idiot. I roll my eyes. "Uriah, even _you_ wouldn't believe that." Kora and Alex laugh and Uriah playfully shoves them both. I stand up testing my new crutches. I look at my watch again.

5:00. "Okay guys, I better go get ready. You should too Alex, you have initiates to train as well."


	24. Chapter 24

**Tris POV**

When I wake up I'm in Tobias' apartment on the floor next to his bed. I think I fell out last night. I check my watch. 5:15. I get up off the floor rubbing my stiff neck. Tobias is passed out on the bed lying face up with both his arms stretched out.

I throw a pillow at him. "Hey, lazy get your ass out of bed." He groans and flips over so he's face down on the mattress. I roll my eyes and walk into his bathroom. I grab a cup and fill it with cold water. I walk back into the bedroom and pour it on his head. He jumps up and tackles me.

I just laugh. "You having fun there?" Tobias says lying on top of me. I grin. "Yup." He shakes his head. "Oh Six, I thought you knew better than to test me." He does a big exaggerated sigh. "Well, shame. Looks like I'll have to punish you."

He pulls up my shirt and tickles me. I shriek laughing. "Tobias! Stop!" I manage between laughs. He just smiles and tickles me more. I finally manage to push him off. "Don't do that!" I say catching my breath.

He drops his smile and fakes a confused face. "What this?" He reaches out to tickle me again but I slap his hand away. I shake my head and start walking towards the bathroom.

"You want me to help you in the shower? I mean I don't think you're fully recovered from your laughing." He says grinning at me like an idiot. I stop in the doorway and grab a dirty towel off the top of a laundry basket and chuck it at him.

"Oh grow up!" I shut the door behind me. I hear him snickering behind the door. He's such an idiot. I jump through the shower and throw on black cargo pants and a dark blue t-shirt from my stash of stuff for when I sleep here.

I put on mascara and slip on my combat boots. At the last second I braid my hair down my back. I walk out into the main apartment. Tobias is sitting on the bed butt naked, only covering his privates with a random book. "Ah! Tobias! Put some pants on!" I turn around so I don't see him.

"What? Why? I've gotta get naked to get in the shower anyway. Hey, do you want to read this book? It's pretty interesting." He says. I don't need to see him to picture his idiotic grin. "No! Tobias leave the book! Get in the damn shower!"

I hear him get off the bed and walk over to me. I cover my eyes with my hand. "Really?" He kisses my cheek. "Really." He slips past me into the bathroom and shuts the door. I roll my eyes. "I'm gonna go get some breakfast for us, be right back!" I yell through the door.

I grab my keys and head down to the cafeteria. When I get there Lena's walking around in crutches with Alex. He's carrying two muffins, probably one for him and one for her. I have to say after what happened last night, I'm surprised she wanted to walk around.

I grab two muffins and walk over to them. "Hey guys, Eight are you going to be at training?" She nods. "Yea, I'll just be in crutches but I should be fine. I'll meet you in the simulation room. Oh, and I'll be able to do the paintball match tonight too."

I raise my eyebrows. "Really? Okay! Well, I've got to run, but I'll see you in a bit." I wave goodbye and head back to Tobias' apartment. When I walk in the door I can see Tobias standing shirtless in the bedroom.

I walk into the kitchen and grab two plates out of the cupboard. He walks up to me and places his hands on my hips. "Hello again gorgeous." I laugh. "Hey there handsome, aren't we feeling energetic this morning."

He smiles. "With a beautiful girlfriend like you? I don't need energy to keep me going." I kiss his lips. "Why thank you, Four." He places his lips on my forehead and we just stand there for a minute, breathing each other in. He smells like soap and aftershave, like Tobias.

Eventually we break apart and sit at the table to eat the muffins. After we finish I check my watch. 5:40. We're running late. We have to wake up the initiates then run to the simulation rooms and set up with Alex and Lena.

"Okay, we've gotta go. You go wake up the dauntless-born and I'll get the transfers. Lena and Alex are going to meet us in the simulation room." I say. He nods and kisses my forehead. He heads towards the dauntless-born dorm and I head to the transfers.


	25. Chapter 25

**Alex POV**

When Lena and I finish breakfast we head down to the simulation room. Surprisingly, Lena makes good time on her crutches. We start turning on the machines and pulling out the injections.

I grab the wires and set them by the two chairs in the center of the room. Lena starts putting the needles in boxes. Once we're finished Lena sits down in one of the chairs and checks her watch. "It's 5:57. Where are they?"

Just then Four and Tris burst through the doors. "Sorry guys, slept in by accident. Initiates are awake, ranks were posted last night as well, so those who were getting cut are gone.

As for the ones who made it, they're coming. Who are we testing first?" Four says. Lena grabs a clipboard with everyone's name on it and reads it. "Aaron." She finally says. "Okay, what time is it?" Lena shows Four her watch.

He nods. "I'll go get him." Four goes to retrieve Aaron, and I grab an extra chair out of the corner for Lena to sit on. "Okay so which one of you is going to watch his fear?" I ask Tris and Lena.

Since there's two instructors for each group they'll have to go every other time, and since Aaron's their initiate they need to figure out what person will watch which. "I will," Lena volunteers. "next one will be Tris." Tris and I nod as Four brings Aaron in.

That's when I realize who 'Aaron' is. I resist the urge to kill him for kissing Lena as he walks to the chair. I don't want her to go through his landscape. He looks at me worriedly and sits down in his chair. I lean up against the wall and cross my arms.

Lena and Tris explain the exercise then hook him up. Tris injects him and Lena closes her eyes. It's kind of creepy watching this. We all stand here silent for about ten minutes watching Aaron shake and sweat. Lena sits completely still the entire time.

Finally he opens his eyes and hugs his knees to his chest. Lena is silent. "Okay Aaron, how do you feel?" Tris asks. He shakes his head. "Awful." Tris nods.

"That's completely normal. It took you exactly 10 minutes, and 37 seconds to calm down your heart rate. You can have five minutes to compose yourself if you like, then you have the rest of the day to do whatever." He stands up from the chair and shakes out his hands.

"Is that all for today?" We all nod. "Okay, I'm good." He walks out of the room and Four goes to retrieve the next initiate. Lena bursts out laughing when the doors shut. "What?" Tris and I ask. She sustains her laughing to just a smile.

"His fear, it was Alex."

**Tris POV**

After we finish with the simulations we're exhausted. We've been in here for a little over seven hours straight, with no break. Lena's passed out in her chair. She's been through a lot the past twenty four hours.

It's a good thing she's sleeping though, we're still doing the paintball match tonight. Alex walks over and picks her up. "Well, I'm going to take her home until it's time to get ready for the match.

Uriah agreed to help her while the match is taking place, and after a lot of arguing he's not allowed to have a gun, but he can use hers if she lets him." I smile. Only Alex would be able to convince Lena to let Uriah help her.

Alex adjusts the way he's holding Lena so he can grab her crutches. He nods to us then leaves. I turn to Tobias. Last time I was here he found out I was divergent. I should tell him about Lena, he seems to know more about being divergent than I do, maybe he'll know what to think of it.

"I need to tell you about something." He turns to face me. "What is it?" I look down at my feet. I don't know if I should really be telling Tobias without asking Lena but it's sort of too late now. I glance up at the security cameras positioned in the corner of the room.

"Not here." Tobias and I head towards the tattoo parlor. I'm surprised Tori isn't starting to get annoyed with everyone going back there. Oh well. I nod at her and Bud when we walk in. They're both occupied with a customer.

I lead Tobias to the back room and lock the door behind us. "Okay, now what is it?" He asks. He looks worried. I grab Lena's sketch pad and flip to the page where she drew a picture of herself. I found it a day or so after she told me she was divergent.

I've looked at some of her other drawings as well. They're amazing, but the personal ones are filled with horrifying things. Any normal/sane person would feel guilty looking at her private stuff, but I found out a while ago I'm not 'normal' or 'sane'.

I look down at the portrait. It would be normal had she not sectioned off her body into four different parts with lines. She drew her clothing and skin four different colors between the lines, blue, grey, black, and white.

Above the drawing she wrote _CHOOSE _in big bold letters. I turn it so Tobias can see. His face shows no expression, but in his eyes I can see the emotion. "Oh." He finally says. He takes the sketch pad from my hands.

He flips to the next page before I can stop him. He drops the sketch pad the second he sees it. The drawing lands face up. It's a picture of Lena when she was younger, but her arms are swollen, red, and cut. Blood drips from her fingertips.

On top she wrote the words _Alone Again_. I look at young Lena and see a single tear rolling down her cheek. No doubt this was after Tobias left. Tobias puts his hand to his forehead and falls back against the wall, slowly sinking to the ground.

I pick the book up, close it and set it back down on the desk. "Tobias, I'm sure she's forgiven you. You don't know when she drew that." I sit down next to him and set my hand on his shoulder. "Do you know how old she was when Sasha started cutting her?" He asks his eyes still on the book.

He doesn't let me answer. "Three, she was three. She took the blame for her siblings so many times so they wouldn't get hurt. Do you know how many times she let Roran or her sister be tortured? Eight times."

The irony is so cruel that I can't contain my next words. "How could anyone be so brave, yet fear so much?" I know eight is a low number of fears, but I do know that the amount that she fears things is much larger than average.

I know all of her fears from her sketch pad, sharks, being alone, Sasha, death, losing her secrets, rape, being eaten alive, and watching her sister die. I think about the previous events she's been caught up in.

I wonder if she fears the same things anymore. She nearly died on the Ferris wheel, she beat up Sasha, her secrets are out, and it's clear no one intends to let her face her fears alone.

Is it possible that she may only have four like Tobias? I look back to him, he seems to be thinking the same thing. "We need to send Lena back through her fearscape." I say.

I don't know why but I feel like I need to prove to her that she's braver than she lets herself think. "and I think I know how." I explain Tobias my plan and he's reluctant to go along with it. He says the only way he'll agree to lie to Lena like that is if we tell Alex. I eventually agree.


	26. Chapter 26

**Alex POV**

"You want to what?!" Tris shushes me because Lena's asleep in the other room. "Look Alex, I know it seems stupid but I feel like she should know what she's still afraid of. She may seem fine on the outside but everyone has a way of coping, and I've seen hers. It's not pretty."

I raise my eyebrows. "Oh really? Then how does she handle it?" I don't see why lying to Lena just so we can see if she still has eight fears is important. "She draws." Four says.

"She draws everything. It's horrifying to see. I didn't know someone could have such intense fear. We think that since she still thinks she's afraid that she feels insecure. I know she hasn't acted that way but I can see it in her sketches." I sigh. Lena _has_ been acting insecure.

She didn't think I loved her last night on the Ferris wheel, and even before that she seemed convinced that a coward like her didn't deserve someone like me. I told her that was a lie.

Then she asked me how many fears I had, and I couldn't tell her, because I only had five at the time. I haven't told anyone about my fears before because they change constantly. One day there may be ten, the next twenty.

I go through my landscape every week to see how many I have. During initiation I had sixteen. So rather than going by a number, I go by X, and no one would think it's possible for fears to change so constantly, so no one gets the hint. "Fine." I say reluctantly. "I'll do it."

They both smile, relieved. "Good, see you at 11:00." Tris says. She starts to walk away but then stops remembering something.

"Oh, and be careful about how you act, don't lie, but don't give her enough of the story so that she'll understand the plan. You know how easily she can tell when people are lying." I nod and she runs off to catch up with Four.

**Lena POV**

Alex wakes me up at 11:00 to start getting ready. Tris and Tobias are here too, but they're acting weird. Happy, but in a strange way too happy. Once I'm changed into better clothes I sit down in one of Alex's chairs. "Okay so what's going on? Why is everyone acting weird?"

I don't know how I gained the traits of a truth detecting Candor but somewhere along the line I did, and ever since then I can almost always tell when something's up. Tris looks uneasy but shakes it off and smiles. "Well, we sort of made a little wager."

I roll my eyes. "winner of the tournament goes through one of the losers' fear landscapes." I immediately feel sick to my stomach. I don't want anyone going through my fears. I shake off the panic, I'm Dauntless. I can handle this.

"Great! I look forward to seeing what you two are afraid of." I say grinning viciously and Alex and Tobias. Alex scoffs at me. "Why aren't we sure of our self today?" I just laugh and grab my coat. "C'mon, we've got to go get the gear ready, and wake the initiates up."


	27. Chapter 27

**Tris POV**

I feel bad about lying to Lena, but it's for the greater good. The initiates are all sitting sleepily on the train. Uriah, Alex, and Lena are standing in the doorway of the train watching to see for when it's time to get off.

Tobias is standing next to me watching the initiates. "We're getting close, better tell them why they're sitting on a train at one in the morning." Uriah says from the doorway. "Okay initiates, here's the deal." Tobias says.

"Every year the Dauntless trainers and initiates have a paintball match, Dauntless-born trainers vs. transfer trainers. And that, my dear Uriah is why they're sitting on a train at one in the morning." Uriah rolls his eyes and looks back out the train car.

"Also, if you're too thick to already understand, that's Uriah. He's here to…referee." I'm glad he didn't say he was here to help Lena, because crutches or not she'd still whoop his ass. "Okay, now we're going to pick teams, ladies first." He says with a wicked smile.

I cross my arms and Lena crutches over to me, being sure to run Tobias' foot over with one on her way. He winces and I hear a few snickers throughout the crowd. Tobias glares at them and they shut up. "Lindsey." I say to the crowd.

Alex and Tobias position themselves in front of the crowd. "Kai." "Sam." "Tess." "Aaron." I see Alex cross his arms out of the corner of my eye. "Skylar." "Jake." "Alyssa." "Jack." Lena gives me a look but I pretend I didn't see it.

"Erin." "Samantha." "Hector." "Roran." "Eve." "Abigail." "Corey." "Scarlet." "Matthew." "Paul." Jane walks silently over to Alex and Tobias. Our team is even levels of smarts and muscle, Alex and Tobias' team is just pure brute force (minus Jane).

We both prep our teams and Alex and Tobias' team get off first. Several minutes later our team jumps off as well. Once we're all on our feet Lena rounds up the initiates. "All right guys, what's the plan?"

They all just stand there shocked. "You mean you guys don't have one?" A Dauntless-born girl named Scarlet asks. Lena shakes her head. "No. If we did all the work then that would defeat the purpose of the exercise. You guys figure it out."

Scarlet stomps her foot. "But that's not fair! Ugh! You know what, what _ever_! You're about as useful as a stupid stick in your obnoxious crutches anyway!" I see the mood shift in Lena's eyes.

With one swift motion Lena crouches down and swings one of her crutches through Scarlet's legs. Scarlet screams and falls to the ground. Lena stands replacing her crutches under her arms. "Yes, quite useless." She says with a smirk.

Scarlet gets to her feet and brushes off her shoulders grumbling. I clear my throat. "Alright guys, I suggest you get a strategy together soon, before we're covered in paint." The initiates huddle up and start talking strategy.

Eventually they come up with a good plan for where to hide the flag and who will defend it, they also come up with an offensive strategy which to my surprise is pretty good. After the initiates divide into separate groups, they head out to capture the flag.

Lena (plus Uriah) and I are in the group attacking the flag, along with Scarlet, Lindsey, Aaron, Sam, and Jake. Despite Lena's leg, she still has amazing aim and with Uriah's help she can keep up.

We run over to a building with a bunch of old trees in front. Once everyone's well hidden we send Scarlet out to look for the other team.

One of the initiates climbed up a building with vines going up the sides to check for the other team, but instead they saw their bright orange flag hanging off a building window a mile or so away.

Scarlet signals the all clear and we advance to our next hiding place. We repeat this until we're at the last hiding place, the flag is ten feet away, but also ten feet in the air. Just as Scarlet turns to signal the all clear her black sweatshirt splashes with orange paint.


	28. Chapter 28

**Lena POV**

We all jump back into our hiding spots as Scarlet screams in frustration and stomps her way back to the train tracks. We watch as Eve, Tobias, Hector, Kai, Tess, and Alex come into view.

"Keep your eyes peeled. There's no way she was out here alone." Eve says looking around. Alex stops as if he heard something. We all hold our breath as he looks at the bushes. I think we're doomed when he shakes his head and jogs to catch up with the group.

"Yea but did you see her? She was about to turn around. I bet she was looking for the flag, they're probably still guarding theirs. It's a good strategy but it's easy to figure out. She was turning that way so my bet is their flag is somewhere close to that."

Kai says pointing in the opposite direction of our flag. I smile at his lack of Erudite thinking. "Sounds right, let's go." Hector says. They start walking away, turning their backs to us. I nod at our group still sitting in the bushes. We all silently pull out our guns then charge.

I ditch my crutches letting my adrenaline numb the pain. Aaron and Sam take out Kai and Hector splattering their backs with paint. Tobias turns and hits Jake in the chest. Tris steadies her gun and splatters Tobias' neck with pink paint.

Alex dives out of sight and starts sprinting away, turning around a corner before anyone can hit him. Lindsey shoots Tess at the same time that Tess shoots Aaron. Eve dodges a paint ball and hits Tris' chest and Jake and Sam's arms.

Lindsey tries to aim at her but Eve is too fast, and her legs are soon dripping orange. While she's distracted I splatter her neck and face with pink. She makes a disgusted face as she wipes paint off her lips.

She glares at me but once you're hit you're not allowed to talk, so she just throws down her gun and stomps away just like Scarlet did. Tris looks at me apologetically and follows everyone else to the train.

I look around. Uriah's just emerging from the bushes with my crutches. "Well this sucks. How are we going to get the flag? Plus, I have no idea where Alex is." I smile. "Like this." I run full speed at the building with the flag.

Once I'm close enough I jump, spring off the wall and reach out for a windowsill on a building across from the flag's. I just barely catch myself with my hands. Once I've pulled myself up I perch on the edge ready to jump again. I look down and see Uriah standing in awe.

He's about to say something when his shirt is illuminated with orange. I don't have time for sympathy, if I don't jump now we'll lose. I leap off the ledge and grab the flag. I scream as I fall through the air.

I land with a thud on the pavement. I sit up slowly, dizzy from the impact. It knocked the wind out of me but other than that I'm unscathed. Alex runs out from behind a building. "Lena! Are you okay?"

I get to my feet and brush off my pants. I accidently brush the cut on my leg and fall back to my knees wincing. He runs over to me and carefully helps me to my feet. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm fine."

He shakes his head. "You just fell _three stories_! Are you immortal?" Uriah says running up next to me. I smile. "Sadly no, did you grab my crutches?" He hands me my crutches and I slip them under my arms. When we get back, the train is just getting here.

When I get on, I am shocked by what I see. Everyone on my team has paint on them except for me. I don't know whether to scold my initiates for all getting shot, or congratulate them for winning. I throw down the flag in front of me and they all cheer.

I roll my eyes. "Okay, okay, cool it. A crippled girl was the last one standing on your team, not exactly a proud moment. _However,_ you all did display excellent teamwork and strategy. Congratulations for winning. We cannot afford to give the winning team a day off since time is short, but you all will get an extra point or two for shopping."

They cheer again, but settle down quickly. Everyone takes a seat and I make my way to the other side of the car where Tobias, Tris, Alex, and Uriah sit. I collapse next to Alex and he pulls me on his lap.

"So who's fear landscape are we going through?" Alex looks at Tris and Tobias uneasily. Uriah looks just as confused as I feel. He scratches his head. "Um, mine." I narrow my eyes. _He's lying._ I consider questioning further but Alex brings his lips to mine, melting my emotions.

He releases me and wraps his arms around me. _What was I thinking about again?_ I sit there trying to remember what I was suspicious about. I think Alex was just nervous about going through his fears. That would make sense. I smile and relax into his arms.

When it's time to get off he helps me to my feet, and we jump with my hand in his.

**Hey there reader! Thank you so much for reading my fanfic! I hope you're liking it, and I just wanted to let you know there's more to come! I'm ****having a bit of writing block for now, but I'll update it ASAP! Promise! -Reese**


	29. Chapter 29

**Alex POV**

Right about now I'm starting to feel _really_ guilty. I distracted Lena from knowing about our plan by _kissing_ her. When I kiss her it should be through love, not to distract her. She's lying in bed next to me, my arm around her shoulders, hers lying limp across my chest.

The second we got back to my apartment she was out. I've been up all night, too guilty to sleep. I look at the clock. 5:30. I've let her sleep in as late as she can. We have to wake up the initiates at 5:50, and she still has to get ready.

I shake her gently. "Lena," I whisper. "Lena wake up." She flinches and grabs my neck. When she realizes it's me she lets go. She wakes up like this literally _every _morning. I guess we can blame her mom for that.

"We've got to get ready and wake up the initiates. Afterward, we're going through my fearscape." She smiles. "Okay." She kisses my cheek then gets up to shower. About seven or so minutes later she comes out with her wet hair thrown up in a ponytail.

She's wearing dark green cargo pants and a black t-shirt, and of course her combat boots. I kiss her forehead and go shower myself. Once I'm finished I slip on a dark grey t-shirt and some jeans. We walk wordlessly down to each of the initiate dorms.

Of course, when we wake them up we're the opposite of silent, but when we're done we still walk silently down to the simulation room. Tris and Tobias are kissing when we come in. I roll my eyes and busy myself with syringes.

Lena snorts and shouts "Get a room!" They both break apart blushing and start prepping the equipment. After we're finished Tobias goes to retrieve Aaron.

**Lena POV**

Simulations go by faster today than they did yesterday, and almost every initiate made good progress on their fears, especially Lindsey and Aaron.

Right now I'm in the room outside the fear landscape room holding Alex's hand while we wait for Tobias to get the syringes and set the program to Alex's fearscape. After a few minutes he grabs the needles and inserts everyone with the simulation.

We all walk into the fear landscape room. When we walk in everything goes dark. I feel a gun barrel pressed to my head and my stomach plummets. This isn't Alex's fearscape, it's mine. But something's different.

The person holding the gun to my head isn't asking me to do anything. I look across the room and see Tris, Tobias, and Alex staring at the person with the gun to my head. I move my head to see who it is. I start to shake when I see who. "A-alex?" I stutter.

"What is going on?" the Alex holding my gun replies but doesn't answer the question the way I thought he would.

"No one loves you. You're unwanted. I don't love you, and you were a fool to ever think so. I'm going to end your miserable life as a favor to you and everyone else on the planet. You should be thanking me."

My palms begin to sweat and I begin to shake harder. My knees feel like Jello, and I can barely stand. I have no idea how to face this fear. If I shoot Alex, I lose him. If I shoot myself, or let him shoot me, he's right. I begin breathing heavily as tears start running down my face.

"You-you're wrong." I'm still shaking. "You l-love me. You p-p-promised y-you wouldn't l-leave me. You p-promised." The simulation Alex laughs. "You aren't fooling anyone. You can't even t-t-talk right." He says mocking me. "I don't love you, no one does, no one ever will."

I take deep breaths, I stop my tears and I clench my hands into fists. I close my eyes trying to think. He's wrong. He isn't real. I force myself to stand straighter, to stop shaking. My eyes fly open. "You. Are. Wrong."

Lightning zaps down from nowhere, striking simulation Alex, making him vanish. I glare at Tris, Tobias, and real Alex as the scene goes dark once more, prepping the next fear. Before I can say anything we're standing in glass boxes.

All of us in separate ones. I look out at the room we're in. In front of us stands another simulation Alex, a simulation Kora, and a simulation Roran. Sasha suddenly appears out of the shadows holding a gun.

She walks over to Kora, holding the barrel to her temple. "No." I say breathless. I feel like all the air is being sucked from me at once. "You useless little _brat_." Sasha says. "You think you're _safe?_ That you can just live on like _nothing_ ever happened? That you can be _happy?_"

She laughs, pressing the gun into Kora's skull. "Not on my watch." "No!" I scream. She pulls the trigger and Kora's limp body crumples to the floor. I sink to my knees and squeeze my eyes shut.

I press my hands into the side of my head as hard as I can, trying to push out the image of Kora's body on the floor. "Oh shut it you worthless little _coward_. For once in your life man up and stop _crying_!" She walks over to Roran and presses the gun to his head.

"Stop!" I scream. I slam my fists into the glass. "No. You don't deserve happiness. You're nothing." She pulls the trigger and Roran falls to the ground, blood flowing from the hole in his skull. I scream at the top of my lungs.

Tears begin running down my cheeks. She walks over to Alex. I watch in horror as she puts the gun to his head now. I take a deep breath. _She won't kill anyone else. He's all I have left, and she can't have him._

I let the last tears roll down my cheeks. I clench my fists so tight that my knuckles are white. "Two down, one to go." Sasha says with a wicked smile. I glare at her through the glass. _You won't take my happiness, not on __my watch. I am _not_ worthless. I am brave_.

"NO!" I scream slamming my fists into the glass, shattering it beneath my hands. Sasha and Alex disappear as the fear fades to black. The next fear appears, one that I recognize. We sit on top of a skyscraper, the Hancock building.

The sky is dark. I see my sister's hand gripping the edge of the building, her fingers beginning to slip. "Lena!" She screams. "Help me!" I scramble to my feet running towards her. I dive to take her hand but it slips and she falls.

I watch as she plummets to the ground, her body hitting the gravel below. I look in horror at her broken body, sprawled out on the floor, never to move again. I sink to my knees as the fear fades.

I curl into a ball screaming and crying hysterically. Someone touches my shoulder. "NO!" I scream. "NO MORE!" I weep, my body racking with sobs. "I failed." I mutter. "I failed her, I let her die."

Someone wraps their arms around me. "Shh." They say. "It's okay, it's over." I look up and see Tris and Tobias staring at me a few feet away. Alex is the one holding me. I see that we're in the fear simulation room.

"No," I say sniffling. "No, it can't be over. There were more." Tobias shakes his head. "I think we should stop calling you Eight."


	30. Chapter 30

**Lena POV**

The second I could stand, I ran. I ran as fast as I could. I ran out of the compound, I ran to the train tracks, I just kept running. Running from Alex, from my sister, from Sasha, from everyone. I just ran.

I finally stop in the middle of a field. I drop to my knees and scream. I scream loud, and I scream long. I scream until I can't anymore. I punch the ground, I kick it. I pull at my skin, at my clothes, as if I can escape this nightmare and just fly away.

I keep pulling, even after there are claw marks and blood dripping off my body. I scream again and pull off my shirt. I stand in the middle of this field, in my bra, holding a now ripped shirt, screaming. I'm a lunatic, Sasha was right. I'm worthless, I'm a coward.

I collapse on the ground sobbing. I thought I would never have to face my fears again. Now I'm Three. I don't know who I am anymore, I don't know who 'Three' is. It's too late to still be Eight, Lena, or Elizabeth. Now I'm Three.

I scratch at my skin where I had the roman numerals for eight tattooed on my body until it's bleeding and will scar over, forming new skin that doesn't tell of my old identity. I stop crying and sit with my head in my hands.

I don't care anymore. I don't value my life. I don't want to start again, that's too easy. Cutting my hair, dying it, wearing contacts, changing my name, I've already done it. No, now I don't want to start, I want to end.

I pull out the pocket knife I keep on me from my pocket. I shiver as I pop out the blade. I could probably jam this through my neck and it would do the trick. No more pain, no more fear, no more cowardice, just empty space. I sigh. Sounds nice.

I aim the knife at my neck, and get ready to end it all. I look at the sky one last time. It looks peaceful. I can't wait to join it. I close my eyes as I thrust the knife into my skin.

**Hope you enjoyed! I had fun writing this story and- No. I'm totally just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you! Next chapter won't be out until Saturday though, just cuz I want to see you squirm :) (Sorry about the short chapter btw)**


	31. Author's Note

**Hey guys!**

**I know. You're going to kill me for writing an authors note.**

**I promise it'll be short, and it only applies to some people.**

**I have been receiving a lot of reviews lately which is great but, I am getting a lot of reviews saying I should kill off Lena.**

**I said from the start I was going to change the story a bit so it's something new, and maybe I'll write a fanfic about just Tris and Four, but for now Lena and Alex are here.**

**I would also appreciate it if I could stop getting hate about her because her character is based off of someone I know, and so is Alex.**

**Sorry for complaining but it had to be said.**

**Also, I would like to apologize for the constant POV changing and weird line spacing, it is my first story and I'm still getting the hang of things.**

**Thanks for reading! -Reese**


	32. Chapter 31

**Lena POV**

When the knife enters my skin, I don't feel it. I open my eyes confused. I look at the knife and instead of my neck, a hand is attached to it. I scream and release the knife. "What the hell?!" I hear a grunt as someone pulls the knife out of their hand. I turn and see it's Alex.

"Why? Why would you stop me?! I don't want to live anymore! Just let me die! Just leave me!" Alex picks me up and slings me over his shoulder. "Stop! No! Leave me! Let me die! I don't want to live!" "I can't let you do that." He replies gruffly.

I start kicking and trying to wiggle from his grip. "WHY?! Everyone would be fine without me! Everyone would be better!" He sets me down in front of him. He looks into my eyes with anger, fear, and love.

"I wouldn't."

**Tobias POV**

Tris and I watch in awe as Alex runs after Lena. "This is bad." She says. She has no idea how bad this is, Lena's tough, but not that tough.

I don't know what she's going to do, but whatever she does, it's not going down without a fight. "Alex won't stand a chance against her, she will destroy everything in her path if she wants something."

Tris and I look at each other worried and sprint off in the direction Alex went. We get to the compound door just as Alex sets Lena down.

They're about a mile away, but we can see their figures in the distance. Alex says something and she tries to escape, but her throws her over his shoulder.

We can hear her screams from here. "LET ME GO! LEAVE ME! I HATE YOU! LEAVE ME! I JUST WANT TO DIE!" That's all we need to start running towards them.

When we meet up with Alex Lena is completely unstable. She's not wearing a shirt, and her skin is bruised, scratched, and bleeding.

I notice a pair of black wings drawn on her back. They look broken and jagged, but beautiful. They look like Lena. She scratched out her VIII and it's bleeding pretty bad.

All I can do is watch as she fights Alex, punching and kicking, grabbing for a knife that he threw on the ground. "Elizabeth stop!" I yell to her.

She shoves Alex away and screams. "DON'T CALL ME THAT! DON'T SAY THAT HORRIBLE NAME! I'M NOT ELIZABETH! I'M NO ONE!" Alex tackles her to the ground.

She struggles under his weight. Tris and I run over and help pin her to the ground. "Enough!" Tris yells. Lena squirms and punches.

She lands a blow on Tris' nose and it breaks. Tris grunts and falls on her butt. I grab Lena's arm and pin it behind her back so if she moves it'll break.

We all stand still, panting. "We can't let you kill yourself Elizabeth, we won't." Alex says between breaths. Lena's entire body tenses.

"That's. Not. My. Name." She twists around and punches my jaw. "I HATE ALL OF YOU!" She screams running away.

We chase after her, but the train decides _now_ of all times to show up, and she jumps on. We miss it by _seconds_.

Alex screams in frustration and falls to his knees. "We _never_ should have done that! I knew it would end horribly from the start!" We don't object because he's right.

We may never see Lena again.

**Lena POV**

I don't know why I'm going to do what I'm about to do, but I'm going to do it anyway. Since I can't exactly kill myself, I figure I'll just start over and hit the rewind button on my life.

I shove around supply crates until I find a blue shirt and a black pleated skirt that cover my tattoos and scars. I sit on the train wiping the blood and tears off my body with an old rag I found.

Once I look semi-decent I get ready to jump off the train. I take one last look at the track, knowing it'll be my last. I jump and tumble to the ground.

I brush myself off and run towards some buildings. I take an old hairband off my wrist and tie my hair back. I slip a black glove I found on the train over my hand with the dauntless flames.

I look at my reflection in a window. Surprisingly I look very Erudite. My eyes shift to a pair of discarded glasses sitting on the windowsill.

I grab them and put them over my eyes. I look up again. Perfect. I knew exactly how I'd do this, because I had planned on it a long time ago.

When Eric helped me stay dauntless, he also made me a fake identity for me in Erudite in case I needed to escape. I don't understand why he ever helped me, but he did, and I didn't question it, so here I am.

I walk up to the government building for Erudite and climb up the steps to the glass doors. They slide open automatically for me when I get close.

I pretend it's normal. A man sitting behind a big white desk smiles as I approach them. I smile back. "Hello, how may I assist you today?"

The man asks me. "Hello, I am Elizabeth, and I am here to receive a new identification card, I sent in a request after I misplaced my old one."

I say in a bright sophisticated tone. Eric let me keep the name 'Elizabeth' because it was an Erudite name, and he didn't want me to accidentally not respond when someone called for me.

The man looks down at a computer screen, presses a few buttons, and looks back to me. "Elizabeth Matthews?" I smile. "Yes, that is me."

He clicks a few buttons. "Alright miss Matthews, could you please inform me of your middle initial to verify that you are indeed who you say you are?"

I nod. "A, as in Aurora." The man smiles again and looks back to me. "Correct. Here you are Elizabeth." He hands me the I.D. card. "Have a nice day."

I smile back. "And you as well." I walk out of the building with perfect posture. I look at the I.D. card so I can find where I live.

Elizabeth Aurora Matthews

**Age:** 19 **Birth:** 1-8-4001 **Height:** 5'5 **Weight:** 110lb.

**Residence:** 1288-Lake Shore Drive **Occupation: **Writer

**IQ:** 150 **Class Rank:** 1 **F.O.O.(Faction of origin):**Dauntless

**Spouse:** - **Eye Color:** Brown inward ombre **Hair Color:** Caramel

**Extinguishing Features:** Scarred arms, back tattoo, wrist tattoo, eye color

**Signature: **_Elizabeth A. Matthews_

I roll my eyes. Leave it to the Erudite to get every little damn detail. What the hell is '_ombre_'? Like I'm supposed to know. Well, actually I am.

I think about it like an Erudite, best get into the habit of it. _My eyes go from light to dark…but they said inward, so, that would mean reverse it…ombre=transition of colors from dark to bright._

I smile content with my smartness. Of course Eric _could_ have at least put me in a more normal rank. It's kind of noticeable to rank first in 'class', and most likely someone would remember them.

I am glad though that he decided to raise my age, it makes it so most likely people wouldn't be able to tell who I was since I joined a few years ago.

It's also a good thing he left me a transfer, it'll explain my scars and tattoos, as well as my lack of friends and colleagues.

Writer is also an isolated job, so no one will question that they've never seen me before. I smile wider. I'm already becoming more and more like an Erudite.

Thank god for my divergence or else I might be in trouble. I glance back into the direction of the dauntless compound. "No going back now." I say to myself.

I look back to the busy streets ahead of me, and start walking towards my new life.


	33. Chapter 32

**Sorry about the lack of updating! I've been working on other stories (Not fanfiction) and I forgot that I haven't updated my fanfiction! Sorry about that! I'll try to get on writing this but I need some help figuring out where this should go! Suggestions plz!**

**Tris POV**

It's been two weeks since Lena went missing. We don't know if she's dead or alive. We've been scanning the internet and broadcasts for any type of superstitions, but come up empty handed.

We even just plain searched the web with LENA, ELIZABETH, EIGHT, THREE, and every variation of it.

The closest we came to anyone who looked like Lena was a 17 year old Amity girl named Lena Reed, but there were thousands of records of peace fundraisers and rewards under her name that trailed back at least ten years.

Another girl, Elizabeth Matthews, from Erudite popped up, but she ranked first in her initiate class several years ago, she's 19, and she just published a book last week, so it couldn't be her, although they could be twins.

Alex isn't even Alex anymore. He's been so drunk that he had to stop training the initiates, and Four and I were forced to take control. The initiates finished training last week.

The chalk board from the jobs/apartment assignment ceremony is sitting in the corner. I read over the names for the bazillionth time, trying to remember training them with Lena.

Lindsey-Dauntless Leader

Roran-Piercing Parlor

Eve-Ambassador

Sam-Restaurant Owner

Jackson-Shop Keeper

Abigail-Shop Keeper

Jake-Waiter

Sammi-Nurse

Hector-Waiter

Jane-Nurse

Kai-City Patrol

Scarlet-City Patrol

Matthew-Fence Guard

Paul-Fence Guard

Alyssa-Fence Guard

I sigh and look back to the monitor in front of me. I'm in the control room with Tobias, Tori has given me a few months off work to look for Lena, but eventually I'll have to return.

We checked Alex into the hospital and he pretty much lives there now. His diagnosis is 'Depressed/Dangerous Alcoholic' but what it should be is 'Broken Heart'.

He's allowed to leave, but he has a curfew, and he has a red plastic band that he has to wear around his wrist. He comes here every day to see if Lena turned up, but she never does.

I don't know why, but Eric seems to have taken pity on him and just left him be, not threatening to kick him out or anything like that. The worst part about Alex is that he always wears a bracelet that he got Lena for her seventeenth birthday, and he never takes it off. Ever.

I sigh as I scroll through the thousands of 'Lena's and 'Elizabeth's throughout the factions. Just as I'm about to click on a link, Eric bursts through the door, shoving Alex in with him.

Speak of the devil. "Alright," Eric says. "I've had enough. I thought by now Lena would have come to her senses, but apparently not. Also, I'm sick of him wandering around the compound like a crazy person."

Alex just stumbles over to a corner and sits on the floor, leaning up against a wall. "What do you mean?" Tobias says, watching Alex. Eric sighs. "I know where she is." "What?" All three of us say in unison.

"How?" He walks over to my monitor and I get out of the way. He begins typing something into the search bar. "I helped Lena escape her mother when she wanted to stay Dauntless with Alex."

He says. We all just stare at him shocked. Since when did _Eric_ ever _help_ someone? He rolls his eyes. "Yes I know, shocker.

Let's just say Lena did something for me when I needed help but no one else would. Anyways, after I helped her escape, I made her a fake identity in Erudite so she could escape and live there if she needed to leave.

It was never meant to be a permanent home, but it would work if she needed to 'start over'." We all look at him confused. "So? What does that have to do with anything?" Alex says. His voice is hoarse and rugged.

"Because that's where she is." Eric says. Tobias walks up next to Eric and the monitor. "How would you know that?" Eric rolls his eyes again. "Because I've been tracking her. Duh."

He finishes his search and points to an image of an Erudite girl who looks just like Lena. "Elizabeth Matthews." Tobias and I say together. "She's been in front of us the whole time."

**Lena POV**

I smile as Caleb opens the door and welcomes me inside his house. Ever since I moved to Erudite he's been helping me fit in. When we first met up, he said I shouldn't stay here forever and I thought about it.

I probably could go back to Dauntless, but I don't know if I'd ever be able to face my friends again, especially Alex. They would all think of me as a coward, a traitor.

"Hi Three, how are you?" Caleb asks. The ironic thing about moving to Erudite is that everyone calls me 'Three'. The best part about it is people will just role with it, making their own assumptions, not asking why.

Formally I'm known as Elizabeth, but to my few friends that I have accumulated, I'm Three. "Hello Caleb, I am doing well. I just came over for a visit, I'm having a bit of writer's block and thought social interaction would be a pleasant way to give my mind a break."

He smiles. "Well you know you are welcome into my home whenever you find it necessary. Would you like a glass of water?" I smile back. "Yes please, if it is not too much trouble."

He nods and heads to the kitchen. The only downside to Erudite is the food. It's all 'brain food' like water, whole grains, and high protein meals. It's certainly not Dauntless cake, but food is food.

Caleb returns with a glass of ice water. "Thank you." "You are welcome. What would you like to discuss?" I think about for a second. "I am not sure. Could we watch the news? I want to see if there are any new stories on the Dauntless faction."

He doesn't need to ask why, he knows very well that I want to know if anything is happening. Sure enough, when we turn the channel to Dauntless news, there is something new.

A missing picture. I look at the girl with dark makeup and wavy caramel hair. Underneath is reads 'Elizabeth (Lena/Eight) Ford'. I gasp dropping my glass of water to the floor. It shatters on the white tile.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry Caleb, it's just, they could locate me. I look so similar to how I did before…they'll send me back." I lean down and scoop up some of the glass. Caleb walks over to me with a broom and a towel.

"Elizabeth, it's okay. Maybe it's best if you return. They do not have a warrant for your arrest, or a reward under your name, it just says missing, they most likely just want you back." I shake my head scooping up the last of the glass.

"No, they will view me as unequal, a coward, a traitor. Back home they do not take things like this lightly. Most definitely they will punish me for abandoning them out of cowardice and instability. I cannot go back."

Caleb throws the glass away and we sit on the couch. He rests a hand on my shoulder. "It will be okay, I know it is difficult to comprehend presently, but they will not view you as anything less than a peer, or a friend.

They understand your leaving was because you were unsure of your identity, so you saw it best that you create a new one to cope with the stress of your fear landscape findings." I shake my head.

"Caleb, even if I do return, I will be speaking equivalent to an Erudite, dressing indistinguishably like one, behaving like an Erudite. It will take a while to return to the habit of speaking improperly and acting as a Dauntless would commonly act."

Caleb sighs. "I know Three, it will be difficult. It will take some getting used to, but you are able to return home. It is still your option, I am not requesting you attempt a task that you wish not to complete."

I smile. "Thank you for the support Caleb." I wrap my arms around him and we pull into a tight embrace. I release him and give him a small smile. "I will consider my choices wisely, and will inform you what I intend to do.

My apologies for breaking your glass, I will speak to you at a later date." He smiles back. "You are welcome Three, I am happy to assist when I am able, and it is fine, I have plenty glasses."

I grab my coat and wave goodbye as I exit Caleb's house. I take my time walking back to my house, I need to think and the atmosphere helps. I don't know whether I want to go home or not.

I barely remember everyone, who they were, what they were like. The only person I remember perfectly is Alex. Would I move on if I stayed? Could I grow up and marry someone here?

I don't really know any men, but I am only seventeen. I sigh and kick a rock sitting on the side walk. It goes skipping across the road. I stop when I hear something other than skipping rock, footsteps.

I'm about to turn around when someone throws a bag over my head. I scream. "Help! Someone help me! I require assistance! Help I am being besieged!" I kick my feet and swing my arms trying to free myself.

Then I remember reading a book about assault. I kick low and hear a grunt. I swing my arm wide and hit something/someone hard. I hear a yelp of pain, and the sets of hands release me.

I attempt to pull the bag off of my head when something sharp inserts into my shoulder. "Help! Someone is injecting me with a foreign substance! Help! I'm being attack-" My body goes slack and I fall towards the ground.

**Alright, so at some point in time you know Tris and Tobias are going to get Lena, but I don't know how it will go down! Should Lena be mad? Should she be happy?**

**Should she go back to Dauntless on her own? I need opinions people! Maybe she shouldn't go back at all! And no, this is not the end. When I have more ideas for this story it will get better. **

**Also, no worries, I have some stuff planned for Tris and Tobias too(: Thanks for reading! Love you all!**


	34. Chapter 33

Arms catch me before I hit the pavement.

I am lifted from the ground and carried for at least an hour before I hear a familiar train, and feel the feet below me begin to run.

I was careful to count every footstep and turn so that I will know where I am going, unfortunately I will have to count seconds if I wish to understand how long I am on the train.

The second I am on the train I begin counting.

Luckily for me, I'm good at multitasking.

I fight whatever serum they slipped me so I can speak and yell.

"Whoever you are, I counted the steps and turns to get here! I am counting how long it is taking us now! When you take me to the location you wish to perform…whatever it is you intend to perform, I will know our location and how to exit it! You may as well abandon me now!"

I hear low voices instead of a response.

"Damn, she's really changed. Do you hear her? She sounds like Caleb."

How do my captures know Caleb?

"I know! And don't forget she's fighting the paralysis serum, I haven't met a single person strong enough to do that."

They sound familiar, then I realize why.

"Beatrice? Tobias? What are you doing with me! What do you desire with me? I abandoned you! I am a traitor! A coward!"

I hear shuffling and Beatrice pulls the bag off my head.

"Don't call me Beatrice, Lena."

I shake my head.

"That is your name. However, the word that you utilized to describe me is _not_ my name. My name is formally Elizabeth Matthews, to friends, Three."

Tobias throws his hands in the air.

"Listen to yourself Lena! Who the hell _are_ you? I barely even recognize you! Since when did you need _glasses_? Since when did you wear _skirts_?"

I dust off my shoulders and stand.

"Since I became Erudite."

"You are _not_ Erudite."

Beatrice growls.

"You are _Dauntless_. You're our friend."

I cross my arms.

"Oh really? Because if memory serves, the last time I was with you I was deceived and betrayed. Last I checked _friends_ do not do that. My friends are back home, in the Erudite sector."

I don't know why I'm mad at them, I should be begging for them to take me back, but somehow, I don't feel like it.

"Your _home_ is back in the Dauntless compound, which Alex so kindly kept clean for you."

Tobias spits.

My glare softens.

_Alex._

I try to think reasonably_ These are people who love you, they missed you. _

_They came to get you._

I shake away my Erudite thoughts, and try to act Dauntless.

"I'm still the same girl I was before. I can still beat the shit out of Uriah, I can still talk like a sane person, I can still throw a knife. But just because I'm the same doesn't mean I haven't changed at all. I still hold grudges, I can still punch your lights out, but I won't be exactly the same. Not after what happened."

Tobias grins.

"There she is! I thought we lost her."

I punch him in the arm.

"Shut up. I wasn't kidding about punching your lights out."

If we were from any other faction besides Dauntless, then that would have been an insult, but by Dauntless standards, we just made up.

Tris smiles and hugs me tightly.

"We thought you were dead! Alex has been going insane, the initiates graduated, oh my god, there's just so much you missed!"

I roll my eyes.

"Okay, okay, but I will warn you, transitioning back to Dauntless will take a while. I will not appear-er, _seem_ the same for a while, just know that. It is so hard to speak like this already, a couple intelligent entities might slip out."

I consider what I just said.

"Or a lot of intelligent entities. Plus, I have to find a way to inform Caleb that I left, he was assisting me in acting Erudite, I promised I'd tell him if I left."

They both nod their heads.

"Okay, we will later. For now, there're some people who have really missed you."

I nod.

"I comprehend. I missed all of you as well, I just feared that you would regard me as a coward, or a traitor. The only reason I did not beg for forgiveness when I understood it was you two was because all of the harmful memories just surfaced again and… I lost control."

Tris nods and Tobias laughs.

She punches him in the arm.

"She's trying okay?"

I glare at him disapprovingly.

"Do not test my patience _Four_."

He just laughs again.

"Why? What'll you do? Bore me to death?"

I smirk and swing my fist, connecting it with his jaw.

I then sweep his feet out from underneath him with one of my own.

He falls to the ground and gets back up.

I lean avoiding a blow to my shoulder and jump in the air as he tries to sweep _my_ feet out from beneath me.

I fake a left punch and then kick him in the gut.

After he falls I remain with my leg high in the air for a moment then place my foot firmly on the ground.

"Certainly not."

I say.

Tris contains her want to laugh to just a sly grin and helps him to his feet.

He glares at me brushing off his clothes.

I hear him cursing under his breath, which only makes me smile.

"Yea, a common Erudite trait is being a bitch, so."

Tris rolls her eyes at our childish behavior.

Tobias' cheeks turn a bright shade of red.

"No, uh I didn't mean…um…"

Tris and I laugh. It's good to be back.


End file.
